Star Fox The Zeonic Affair
by Rave Drifter
Summary: Semiau With the events of assualt behind, the SF team accepts a job that will forever alter the lylat system.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is for the fans by a fan.

Star Fox the Zeonic Affair

Prologue:

It goes without saying that many ideas once thought crazy led to technological advances as well as shifts in power that we pretty much take for granted today. There are also some that come from acts of desperation.

It was 0079 of the Universal Century when the Principality of Zeon declared total war on the Earth Federation. One such lesser known figure was then Lieutenant Charles Bluestone. A Earth born native, his parents were politicians pushing for colonial reform to prevent said war in the first place. However, political bottom feeders managed to use their policies against them leading to their execution for treason. One such politician later was elected head of the Oceanatic District.

When the war started, because of paranoia towards the Earth Elite, Bluestone was given command of a Chivvay-class cruiser that was in complete disrepair. Despite this, during the Battle of Loum, Bluestone's ship in an age being dominated by mobile suits, managed to score the highest ship to ship kill count of the battle, with nearly 21 Federation ships vaporized.

These efforts did not go unnoticed by Zeon High Command. Lady Kycilia recognizing his sharp tactical skills and willingness to resort to unconventional tactics quickly granted him a double promotion to Captain. She placed him as head of the Lunar Defense Fleet.

When the war finally ended in a Federation Victory, Bluestone was one of many Zeon soldiers who fled to Axis. The years passed and when Axis was ready to return to the Earth's sphere in 0088, Bluestone proposed a daring plan.

He and a small group of soldiers and civilians numbering around 20,000 would stay behind in the asteroid belt. Current technological advances, over the past 8 years made many things possible, such a practical cryogenics, universal reusable physic controlled weapons, as well as new forms of MS construction and armor. Most of the above would be sold to the highest bidder to fund Axis later known as Neo-Zeon's war effort against the Federation.

Bluestone himself felt it was way too soon to renew the war, but also knew that the internal conflicts occurring in the Earth's sphere presented a unique opportunity. With permission from his superiors, Bluestone and his force of 20,000 strong retrofitted a smaller asteroid with I-Field and Magnetic Distortion Drive engines as well as enough cryo-chambers for everyone in his force. This project was to serve as a back-up for remnants of Zeon to flee the solar system itself and seek out a new inhabitable fatherland should Axis war against the Federation fail.

Eventually, this came to pass and preparations went into a frenzy to get everything prepared. The Federation having found out of this at the end of the first Neo-Zeon war was prepared to send a task force to destroy Bluestone's remnant fleet, however in 0092, Char Azanble, better known as the Red Comet, reformed Neo-Zeon and declared war against the Federation.

This brought Bluestone and his forces time, for the forces originally built up to attack him were now being inscripted to the second Neo-Zeon war. Even though this war only lasted 3 weeks, it was just enough time for all final preparations to be put in place.

On New Year's Day 0093, Bluestone and his forces entered suspended animation. The experimental engines ignited, and the small asteroid known as Second Axis accelerated to nearly the speed of light, thrusting it out of the solar system. For the next 1,500 years, the asteroid would travel from star to star, its internal computers analyzing everything from the condition of the personnel to the external elements to see if they were compatible for human life.

Finally, in UC 1593 the small asteroid fortress found an inhabitable world. It was one-third smaller than earth, but it was almost identical to what was left behind. Half ocean and half land, its all around temperatures were similar to the Pacific Northwest of the old world. The computer decided that this was the perfect place. Atmospheric pumps, heaters, and internal air supplies instantly went back online. People slowly awakened from their long slumber, for the new Fatherland had been found.

However, close by another inhabited system was coming off of a nearly cataclysmic war.

Note: No readers, you're not confused. This is a Star Fox Gundam crossover. I'm just doing it in a way that will make sense to my previous readers. Also note that this takes place after Assault and Command never happened.

Please read, review and recommend.

Rave Drifter


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One: Six months after prologue and aparoids incident.

Fox was staring out at the stars. Of course, this is probably what most would do when copped up on a space ship, but for those who knew Fox, he usually only did this when he had to do some serious thinking.

First off since the aparoids incident, work has been practically nonexistent. With Pepper stepping down from leadership, Commander Michaels took the helm. He was a cocky, somewhat egotistical meerkat who for years had been encouraging military build-up so that Lylat wouldn't have to rely on mercenaries such as Fox and his crew.

Secondly, Peppy and Slippy were no longer around. Peppy retiring saying he was too old and wanted to spend time with his family and when you're a rabbit that will take up nearly all your time. Slippy went off to work with his father on some military project, who knows where.

At least the Great Fox wasn't short handed. Falco dropped a line to few old friends of his. Katt Monroe Falco's off again—on again (who knows how many times) girl friend agreed to join up as a pilot, much for the same reason Fox was worrying about. Since the build up started the work had been drying up.

Falco's other friend was a weird Raccoon named Ken. Apparently he belonged to the same bike gang Falco used to be a part of and could fix just about anything. Proof of that was that the Arwings—the fighters may have been no longer getting Slippy's home brewed upgrades, but they were running like new since Ken joined.

Fox asked Ken once why he wasn't an engineer or mechanic someplace. Ken just laughed and said, "Like Falco—if I went legit and went for a job interview, they'd take one look at my Felony record and run for the hills."

Fox finally managed to pop the question to Krystal, much to the amusement of everyone else; Falco said it was about Friggin time, which earned him a quick smack upside his head from Katt.

Fox and Krystal weren't married yet—just engaged, but Fox wondered what to do after the upcoming marriage. His train of thought was cut off, the ships robot drone ROB came over the speaker saying, "Message from Commander Michaels, Priority Alpha."

Fox muttered to himself, "If it was Pepper with a job offer I'd be rushing to the bridge, but with Michaels, probably wants to cuss out the mercenaries again."

Five minutes later, Fox was on the bridge along with Falco, Krystal, Katt and Ken.

Falco asked, "Hey Fox, where the hell were you? I mean we all hate Michaels, but—"

Fox cut him off and said, "Nothing, nothing, I was just thinking that's all. Rob open the link."

The display went on-line showing the face of Michaels. Apparently something was wrong with the Meerkat, since it looked like he hadn't slept lately.

"Star Fox Team, I'll cut the pleasantries and get right to business, six months ago soon after the aparoids crisis, we started picking up strange signals from a somewhat isolated but near by system designated R-351. For the past couple of months we've been sending recon drones, but they have disappeared. Finally, about three weeks ago, I sent a light cruiser out under the command of your old friend William Grey. We have not heard from him or the cruiser since."

Fox was now pissed off to high hell. "You sent Bill into a dead zone? You irresponsible son of a " As Fox continued on his tiraid, Falco appeared to be about to crack up laughing, for he was astonished as this was the first time he ever heard Fox swear openly and Ken whispered to Katt, "Old friend of his?"

Katt replied, "Yes, from the good old academy days."

Michaels finally derailed Fox's triaid by yelling "Enough Already! I know you mercenaries don't like me for building up the military and taking away you considerably income, but with all the rebuilding following the aparoids crisis, we are stretched pretty thin and you were the only viable option I could think of, so don't for a moment believe that I'm doing this out of charity."

Krystal who remained quiet till now spoke saying, "Any idea what exactly is causing these disappearances?"

Michaels replied, "Not a friggin clue, could been venom Imperial reminants, could be solar flares from that system's star, could be any number of things. All I and my advisors need to know is what is causing those signals and are they hostile?"

Falco snorted and said, "Oh so it's a deadly little scavenger hunt. And what are we going to be paid for this?"

Michaels then put on a political grin that could strip paint. "I heard you had a little trouble rebuilding the Great Fox after the aparoids incident, and that you have racked up quite a bit of debt because of that, I have a few friends in civil banking, get this done and all those creditors will disappear—basically it will be one finished Great Fox for Free."

Fox had to admit for Michaels it was actually a pretty good offer. The money saved from not having to pay off his debts could be used to fully stock the galley for once and maintenance on the Arwings.

Fox finally replied, "O.K. what exactly do we have to do?"

Michaels answered, "The objective is to re-establish contact with Commander Grey and his cruiser The Trinity, if at all possible. The second and equally important objective is to find the source of the signals from R-351 and determine if they are a threat. Coordinates have been uploaded—End Transmission."

The screen went blank and ROB said, "Coordinates for R-351 received and verified."

Fox said, "Everyone prepare for hyperspace jump." In the back his mind Fox could only think of one thing—dammit Bill, I hope you're o.k.

Next: R-351

Please read, review, and recommend

Rave Drifter


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

It was way too quiet for one Kevin Rem, ever since the incident a week ago recon teams were being sent out continuously, since that weird ship showed up. It had some kind of shield of course, but nothing a few blasts from mega particle cannon couldn't bring down. Probably was a weak I-Field. Just as quickly the ship surrendered, as soon as someone, he couldn't remember who leveled a beam rifle directly at the bridge window and then broadcasted on all available frequencies, if they didn't yield or tried to launch anything, a beam would go straight through the bridge and out the other side.

The ship was currently crudely anchored to the side of Second Axis, being swarmed over by engineers. Of course, everyone agreed it had to be an alien ship, but command was not telling anyone any information. All Kevin and his friends knew was that it was not one of there's. Hell, no one even caught a glimpse of whom or what was inside the ship.

Kevin muttered to himself, "Bet High Coms going crazy."

Currently, he was sitting in the seat of a Eye-Zack, a Recon mobile suit originally built by those gravity loving assholes the Titans (after they got knocked off, a whole mess of surviving units made their way into Neo-Zeon's arsenal through secret illegal channels).

He was staring at the long range sensor screen, as usual ever since the incident the particle density sensor was over 70 percent. Radar was pretty much a bust, but the Eye-Zack didn't rely on radar for its work. Its only sensor was a super powerful hybrid infra –red thermal sensor that could find a heat source from quite a distance and tell whether it was friend or foe.

Still Rem was worried. If he was in combat in this suit he'd be screwed, since most of the power went to the sensors now much was left to power the beam weapons or thrusters so the suit was basically a slug. The only weapons the suit could carry were an old MMP-80 machine gun and a weak shortened beam dagger.

Rem's thoughts were cut off by a beeping noise. Rem quickly began pressing buttons muttering to himself—come on not now! His fears were confirmed. One large heat source had just appeared out of nowhere, range 75,000 and closing although slowly.

Kevin swore to himself—dammit must be looking for that other ship—can't send up a signal flare, might see it, and the particle density is too thick for radio.

Bursting through the static his com beeped. "Lieutenant Rem, shift's over."

Rem turned around, coming up behind him was another Eye-Zack to relieve him along with two Dreissen Kai's escorts.

Rem said into the com, "Perfect timing, large heat source, range 73,000. Not one of ours, probably looking for their friends."

A voice over the com coming from the other Eye-Zack said, "Hold on a second—hey your right, I'm picking it up too. Moving rather slowly. Orders Major?"

Inside one of the Dreissen Kai's a man in what looked like a very beat up red/white space suit that had clearly seen better days replied, "Rem, you and I will stay here and continue monitoring; Brooks Feffer return to ship and report this immediately."

Both Brooks and Feffer's voiced in unison, "Yes Major Romfellow."

Ford stared out of the view screen of the Dreissen Kai at the Eye-Zack and looked toward the direction where the contact was to take place. The former Federation Pilot flipped the visor down on his ancient space combat suit and held on to the controls whispering "Rem shut off everything but your sensor and I'll do the same. For all we know they may have sent an elite group to investigate."

Rem whispered back as he began to power down all non-essential systems, "So do we try to talk to them or what?"

Ford replied, "Don't know yet, command still chaotic since the incident. If they get to close I'll allow it. If they start shooting I'll hold them off and you make a break for the ship."

Rem said, "Copy that."

Both mobile suits finished powering down all non-essential systems creating a space born equivalent of what a submarine captain would call a "hole in the water."

THREE MINUTES EARLIER:

Dropping out in three-two-now!

In a flash of light the Great Fox emerged from hyper space and was firing breaking thrusters to reduce speed.

Ken said, "O.K. we're here R-351."

Almost immediately, all the electronics on the bridge began acting up, something's went static and some just shut right off—a few just plane crazy.

Falco yelled, "What the hell is going on here?"

Fox replied, "Ken, ROB, stabilize the systems."

Ken replied, "I'm working, I'm working, just shut your yap—O.K. I think I've got it. Everything is stable at the moment."

Katt replied, "What just happened here?"

Fox added, "That's what I would like to know. ROB analysis?"

The drone hummed for a few seconds and replied, "Unknown closes match indicates electromagnetic pulse. All systems stabilized but reporting minor errors. Sensor range down by 90 percent."

Katt replied, "Impossible. There is no such thing as a continuous EMP. What could possibly generate something like that?"

Falco just frowned and said, "Whoever is doing this must be paranoid—out of their minds."

Krystal thought for a moment and said, "It's kind of like an old clocking spell—only on a massive scale. Perfect for hiding, but it's like a double blind---you can't see the enemy but on the other hand they can't see you."

Katt just nodded thinking that that made some sense to the situation. Although she was still getting used to the fact Fox's fiancé had weird mystical powers and ESP.

Fox thought for a minute and said, "Does anything still work properly?" At the same time he was thinking that when he got back he would kick Commander Michael's ass for this.

Ken looked over the computer screen and replied, "Short range radio is no good, we can still broadcast on a hyperspace frequency though. Plus all sensors except for thermal are pretty much out of the question."

Falco replied, "Great—just great! Everything is down except for short range thermal, we are in some sort of weird ass EMP, and to top it all off if our ship is this screwed up the Arwings are practically useless."

Ken answered, "Not necessarily, remember back in the day Falco, I could fix anything!"

Fox asked, "How?"

Ken thought for a second and said, "Well if we are dealing with some sort of EMP, the best course of action would be to shut off all nonessential systems on the Arwings. We will have to switch the CPU assisted controls over to a mono-system and we should probably shut down all sensors on the things except for thermal since that is still operational and just to be on the safe side, the shield should only be run on half capacity.

We should shut off the fighters life support as well. You will have to fight in a full combat space suit with internal air supply."

Katt snorted and said, "You're kidding right?" If we fight on mono we won't be able to pull off any complex maneuvers and it's been years since I've fought in a full combat suit."

Fox sighed and replied, "During the last days of the Venom War, the Arwings got pretty roughed up, had to fly the entire last mission on mono—it's difficult but not impossible.

ROB how soon can you configure the fighters to Ken's specifications?"

ROB droned out "One moment. Established uplink with fighter onboard computers. Estimated prep time 2 minutes. Commencing."

Fox said, "O.K. Falco, Katt, Krystal let's get down to the launch bay and suit up. Ken continues monitoring. Try whatever you can to bust the power of the thermal sensors Keep the engines running hot and prep for a hyperspace jump at a moments notice."

Ken replied, "On it. Just be careful. Something doesn't feel right."

Fox looked at Krystal and she replied, "I'm feeling something too Fox. Confusion, depression, and anxiety seem to be radiating all around this area."

Fox nodded and said, "Sure, let's get down to the bay and prepare for launch."

Authors Note:

In case you're wondering, we are going to find out what is going out with Bill in the next chapter as well as the initial contact.

Next:

The Wayward Warriors

Please read, review, and recommend

Rave Drifter


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Deep inside Second Axis a lone figure was clutching his arm. A giant patch covered part of it, held on by two tight fitting metal bands. Bill was currently pissed and frightened at the same time. It was suppose to be so simple, investigate a strange anomaly that deep space probes were disappearing into. After emerging from hyperspace everything just went to hell.

First, half the ships systems suddenly and inexplicitly got fried, then what looked like old venom ride armors showed up. One of them was trying to communicate on an obsolete frequency, but before he could open a channel his gunnery officer who was in he battle for sector Y years ago literally freaked out and fired the main cannon ripping the ride armor trying to contact them to shreds. This brings him to present.

The whole incident was short and deadly. Those ride armors managed to bring down the shields quicker than expected. Those things didn't seem to use the normal lasers, but some sort of strange beam with remarkable armor penetrating capability. Of course, once the shield was down one of those armors pointed what looked like an enormous rifle straight at the bridge window. After that memories of what happened next seemed to have disappeared.

The next thing Bill recalled remembering was being roughly placed in this cell with the weird arm patch thing on his upper left arm. Even more bizarre was the fact that every day for the past who knew how long, he had been fed pretty well. Granted most all meals tasted like cardboard, it was however, way more than any prisoner should get.

The one thing that bothered him the most were the two guards outside the cell door. They were completely clothed in primitive green, white, and red trimmed space suits holding primitive rapid fired weapons or slugthrowers as they were commonly called. Bill couldn't see their faces since the face shield was tinted in such a way that you would have to look directly at them to see their faces, which he never got an opportunity to do.

Bills train of thought was stopped when the cell door was opened revealing two more guards but this time the visors were pitch black so he could not see in.

One guard said, "Get up critter. Our commander would like to have a word with you."

Before Bill could respond he was yanked to his feet by the other guard, and suddenly had a slugthrower pointed at his back.

The second guard said, "Don't try anything funny or you'll be paralyzed from the waist down."

As Bill was being led down the hall he wondered about the sequence of events that were bothering him. First for a group with such powerful beam like weapons, the base was extremely primitive. There was little gravity, but they seem to make up for it with their magnet boots. Also their speech was slightly different. Who in he hell would have a vocabulary with silent letters? And for that matter why was their no activity in the hall he was being led down? He realized he had just said the last thing out loud.

The guard holding pistol to his back chuckled and said, "Security reasons critter—now keep moving."

Bill then thought what the hell and decided to ask a question as his situation could not get any worse, "Why in the name of Gaia do you keep calling me critter? And what the hell is this patch thing I'm wearing?"

The guard leading the way responded, "I'm not at liberty to disclose anything. Our commander will be more than happy to answer all your questions."

After a ride in a rickety lift, they stopped in front of what looked like an officer's cabin, opened the hatch and escorted Bill in. Bill could not help but stare at this place in disbelief. The whole thing was nicely carpeted and furnished, there was a bookcase on one side of the cabin, and a door that looked like it led to a private bed and bath on the other. There were two chairs and desk made out of some sort of wood and behind the desk was a captain's chair turned facing the wall.

One of the guards said, "Commander we brought the critter just like you asked."

The chair swiveled and Bill got a good look at his captor. He thought to himself—this is their Commander—he looks like a shaved ape. He also had two other distinguishing features besides the lack of any fur what so ever. One was his hair; it was pitch black like the deepest void of space. The other was his eyes; they had to be the most haunting pair of eyes Bill had seen in years. Who or whatever this thing was, it looked like he had seen some pretty nasty stuff in life.

The Commander replied, "It's rude to stare you know."

This disturbed Bill's train of thought and he said, "Who—or should I say—what the hell are you? Where are my ship and the rest of my crew?"

The Commander said, "They're fine. They're being treated rather well. I apologize for the accommodations, however, since you are the first Alien species we have ever encountered, we had to err on the side of caution. I am Commander Charles Bluestone of the Zeon recolonization forces. Before I go any further, I would like to know, in accordance with protocol I set up, if we found other intelligent life we were to attempt peaceful contact, so why is it that your ship Commander William Gray destroyed one of my mobile suits when it was attempting said contact?"

Bills mind was now racing a mile a minute—shit how the hell does he know my name? Is he referring to that ride amour? I better try some damage control. I'll get some answers later.

Bill replied, "I apologize for any loss of life. I was going to open a channel to that mobile suit as you call it, but it looked a lot like a ride armor."

Bluestone nodded and said, "Ride Armor, so that's what you call mobile suits here—continue."

Bill said, "Yes, well about a decade ago we were at war. In one particularly battle our enemy deployed what you call mobile suits. Our gunnery officer was aboard one of the ships that fell victim to them and was the only survivor."

Bluestone said, "So it was out of fear and trauma that this happened? Understandable. Even the most well trained soldier can crack under stress. I've seen it many times."

Bill thought to himself—this weird ass ape is being way to calm about everything.

Bill then said out loud "Earlier you said we were the first intelligent life you have every come into contact with, can you elaborate?"

Bill thought—maybe I can get some further information out of this guy if I play along somewhat. Maybe find out how he knows my name and what the hell he is talking about.

Bluestone was about to reply when there was a beeping noise. He said to Bill, "Could you hold that thought for just one second."

He picked up a phone that had been hidden behind his desk and said, "Command here. Yes. I see. Move everything to standby status. Cease Minovsky particle jamming, we are to attempt contact. This time directly. I'll be there in a second."

He hung up the phone and said to Bill, "Your military has sent someone to look for you. We're going to attempt peaceful contact, but this time from here instead of from a mobile suit at a closer range. I'm ceasing Minovsky particle jamming so that we can broadcast. I request that you come with me. You should be the one to talk to them after we contact them. I do hope that this doesn't turn out as badly as our last encounter, but due to the situation we're in, I want to do everything in my power to avoid a war that we do not have the resources to fight."

Bill thought to himself, Michaels has sent reinforcements? How the hell did he pull that off? I thought all essential resources were stuck in rebuilding and rearming. However, Bill decided right there that he should continue playing along. There were still so many questions he had for this Bluestone guy and maybe if he could convince whoever was sent to sit down with them, he could get some more answers.

Bill replied, "O.K. where exactly is your communications room?"

Authors note: Two things—1. I apologize if this seems a little weird for a chapter, but I'm changing style briefly to intensify the drama and 2. In case you are wondering about ride armors, in the old Star Fox N64 game, in the sector Y level some of the enemies were in these monkey shaped mecha's. So you can see it's reasonable for someone to confuse a mobile suit for one of these things.

Please read, review, and recommend.

Rave Drifter


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Fox was sweating, mostly because of the full combat space suit he had to wear since life support could not be used on the Arwings. They were already 5 minutes out and this seemed like a very bad idea. The radios hardly worked. The thermal sensors although functioning perfectly were so short ranged that it was easier to rely on sight. Finally, there was a strange amount of debris. Thankfully none of it was from the Trinity, but still the com beeped.

Fox looked out of the cockpit to see Falco's Arwing flying right next to him. The radio was so out of wack that in order to make contact you needed to literally be flying side by side.

Falco said, "Hey Fox, this is pretty much a bust! We can hardly see anything."

Fox answered, "I know, still we have to find Bill or at least some trace of his ship."

Falco said, "Yes, I know, but this like looking for a needle in a haystack. This weird EMP is starting to piss me off."

Kyrstal's Arwing then descended along the other side of Fox and she said, "I feel something. Up high somewhere."

Katt said, "Can you be more specific?"

Krystal thought for a moment and said, "This way."

Krystal's Arwing broke off and started a slow 40 degree climb through the void of space. She then said, "It should be somewhere straight ahead."

Falco snorted and adjusted a small side screen in his cockpit. Zooming to maximum around 50X, he could see peeking out the side of a decent size asteroid what looked vaguely like some sort of robot.

Falco then said, "Hey Fox heads up. Looks like we have venom Ride Armors. Zoom in on maximum straight ahead."

Fox, Krystal and Katt did and sure enough they saw them too. One of which with a huge cross shaped slot with a single glowing eye moving within it, and another with some sort of oversized scanning equipment on its back.

Katt smirked and said, "Haven't seen any of these since the end of the war. This should be fun." She then pressed several buttons and brought up a pair of crosshairs over the long range visual zoom.

Fox said, "Hold on a second. Those don't look like normal Ride Armors."

Falco said, "So—they are probably just a bunch of over modified left overs. We are probably seeing a new body with the guts of whatever they salvaged into it."

Falco also brought up the visual targeting system and layer the crosshairs over the asteroid.

What happened next made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The Ride Armor with the bulky scanner equipment slowly drifted out from behind the asteroid, then let go of what looked like a huge oversized gun of sorts and began drifting towards them like it was dead in space.

Katt said, "What the hell is that thing doing?"

Falco simply replied, "I don't know what this monkey is playing at but if he thinks he can just play dead he can forget it."

Krystal then yelled, "Wait!"

Fox said, "What is it?"

Krystal replied, "There doesn't seem to be any hostility radiating from it. I can feel it. It feels like it is trying to contact us. There's nervousness and fear all around."

Falco said, "Oh come on. Your trying to tell me that whoever's in that thing is so frecking scared it's trying to surrender?"

Katt cracked up and said, "Probably saw that Star Fox team was here and decided they valued their life."

Katt paused for a moment then noticed something. "Hey did anyone else notice that?"

Falco said, "Noticed what?"

Katt snapped back, "Our radio transmissions you feather brained idiot. There's no more static. Whatever was going on around here has just stopped."

Fox added, "Yes I see. Everyone prepare to split up at a moments notice. Something is not quite right."

As soon as he finished there was a beeping noise. The com was going off again. Fox looked at the screen and thought—What the Hell—that frequency is practically ancient. Who the hell would still be using that?

Fox quickly readjusted the com so that he could pick up the ancient signal and what came out of the speaker was surprising.

…."Reply on this frequency—repeat—this is ZRF Recon 017. We do not intend hostilities. If you can hear this identify IFF and reply on this frequency. This message will repeat every 15 seconds. ZRF Recon 017 Clear…"

Fox said to the rest of his team, "Everyone switches to the low 100's of the radio dial. You have to hear this."

About a minute later after the message repeated several more times, Falco said, "What the hell, is this some kind of joke? Why the hell would anyone use a frequency that ancient? Dumb monkeys must be smoking something."

Katt replied, "Who knows. Fox, I'm going to call their bluff. Falco keep the Nova bombs ready to fire."

Katt quickly twicked the radio to the proper frequency. "This is SF04 to UFO—Message received. Reply and confirm in 5 or you will be fired upon."

Apparently they got the message for soon after Katt broadcasted the Ride Armor with the cross shaped slot with a single eye drifted out from behind the asteroid holding what looked like a giant cannon resting on its shoulder.

Falco yelled, "Nice going I think you made them pissed."

Fox then yelled over the radio, "017 this is SF01—hold fire—repeat hold fire! Intentions not hostile—please reply on this frequency."

He then switched to a private channel and muttered, "Katt what the hell where you thinking?"

Katt replied, "What!! They look like venom ride armors. I'm just being cautious."

Krystal said, "Well you could have put it a little more gently. I feel a large spike of fear radiating out of one of them."

Falco laughed saying "Yes you kind of sounded like someone rammed a spike up your rear end."

Before Katt could fly off in a slew of explicities there was a beeping noise and Fox switched the com back on thinking "Thank Gaia" .

"01 this is 017 confirmed transmission interception. Nice to meet other intelligent life. I'm Ensign Kevin Rem of the Zeon recolonization forces. The other holding the giant bazooka is Major Ford Romfellow. We're now going to escort you to Second Axis. Half way there we will link with our base ship the Sadaran Class Mobile Battle Ship Santa Maria." I'm sending a burst transmission to it now. Just follow behind us till we arrive at the ship. The Major and I will dock and the ship will take you the rest of the way in accordance with protocol 513."

Fox and the rest were completely blanked out about this.

Falco finally broke the silence and said, "What recolonalization—what—is this some kind of a joke. What do they mean by other intelligent life?"

Katt replied, "O.K. this definitely does not sound like something Venom Reminents would pull. Nothing seems to be adding up here."

Fox said, "I know, let's play along—keep your finger on the trigger just in case."

Fox then said into the radio, "017 this is Star Fox team leader Fox McCloud, we are willing to follow you on one condition, that we dock with our base ship as well and then follow yours in."

About two minutes later, which seemed a bit too long for Fox's taste another voice came over the com. "This is Major Romfellow permission granted. Please inform your ship to head toward our current position. Ours will do the same as well."

At roughly the same time inside Second Axis' com center Commander Bluestone along with Bill being lead with two Zeon guards in space suits entered.

Bluestone yelled, "Has all minovsky particle jamming been ceased?"

Bill then noticed that one of the skinned apes looked up and said, "Affirmative sir, we also just received a transmission from the Santa Maria of Alpha Battle Group. Patrol 017 has made contact. New contacts will be docking with their base ship and the Santa Maria will lead them in."

Bluestone paused for a second and said, "Very well. Drop alert to condition 4. Inform the Santa Maria to head to docking bay 11. The critter and I will go down and meet them personally."

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Next: Inside Second Axis

Rave Drifter


	6. Chapter 6

Second Axis an experimental reconalization and military asteroid compound shaped like a cylinder with spikes jolting out every which way from a distance it looked almost forbidden and uninhabited. However, this was not the case as Fox's team came to see as they drew closer and closer. The Great Fox being led by a ship called the Santa Maria.

The first thing that was quite noticeable was that there were windows, but they were small and tinted. Next, the docking bays were pretty well concealed with at least four machine cannons one located on each corner of the rectangular shaped opening.

Just moments ago the Santa Maria had told them to head towards one particular docking bay. Fox watched as the machine cannons tracked the ship as it slowly entered the asteroid. Fox noticed that they seemed to track the rear of the Great Fox. Therefore, Fox thought, it's reasonable to say that they guns were probably programmed to track unfamiliar heat signatures.

The com beeped. Fox picked it up and said, "What now?"

The voice on the other end sounded a little creeped out and replied, "Our standard docking tubes won't attach to your ship, please put on normal space suits and exit through the air lock on your ship closest to the ground. Our hanger bays have no life support. Once out you will be let in through a maintenance crew air lock. We will be attaching magnetic locking cables to your ship shortly." The com clicked off and Fox and the crew looked out the main window.

The hanger bay was of decent size, just big enough to fit the Great Fox in. Fox also noted that on the way in there were several larger bays as well. This bay was probably for maintenance ships and personnel. There was hardly any debris floating. All the tools and such were locked in metal cages bolted to the floor. On the walls straight ahead was a massive insignia of some sort of golden eagle with a series of symbols that read—MDB-015.

Falco let out a low whistle and remarked, "I'll give who ever they are one thing—they have good taste."

Ken chuckled and Katt simply groaned knowing that Falco was referring to the massive golden eagle plastered on the wall.

About two minutes later, the group exited though the lowest airlock on the ship. Already there were several figures in primitive looking green and white space suits hooking on to the ship magnetic clamps attached to the wall with extremely thick steel cable. Two other figures stood next to an airlock door. They were armed with compact automatic slug throwers.

Fox and the group touched down carefully on the floor. Noticing that it was metal they quickly engaged their magnetic boots. Once touched down, one of the figures said, "Fox McCloud?"

Fox nodded and the figure in the space suit said, "Through here!"

Fox's crew and the two guards stepped into the air lock while the other guard said, "This will take about one minute 30 seconds." The first door of the air lock slammed shut accompanied by a loud humming sound.

Fox switched his space suit radio over to a private line and said, "Krystal do you feel anything at all?"

Krystal thought for a brief moment and said, "Yes, just more of the same, nervousness, fear, confusion, but now there seems to be something else."

Ken piped in and said, "Really—like what?"

Krystal replied, "I can't put my finger on it, it's like something big like in some sort of deep sleep or coma—it's eerie. Kind of like the feeling I get when I'm in a hospital."

Fox remembered that, when Krystal joined up and got a physical at a corneria civilian hospital, she came out with a clean bill of health but suffered from a migraine for about a week, saying she was overwhelmed by the massive feeling of sickness and death that seemed to linger.

Finally there was what sounded like a bell ringing and one of the guards said, "Atmosphere and heat has been restored, you may remove your helmets. I'm opening the inner door now."

The door silently slid open as if it was on magnetic or well oiled tracks. The corridor was very bland. The walls were made of rectangular metal panels and the ceiling was a mess of pipes and the floor looked like a mesh steel plate over the asteroids natural rock.

The corridor was surprisingly spacious. From floor to ceiling were a good 15 feet and from wall to wall about 20.

Fox said over the private channel, "Pretty good size for a maintenance corridor." He then switched to a public channel and asked, "Well now what do we do?"

One of the guards pointed left and calmly said, "Head this way about a thousand feet and you'll find a maintenance lift and on each side a personnel life. Take which ever you like. Hit the button marked 150 and there will be two more guards on exiting that will accompany you to see our commander. Please do not attempt leaving on any other floor, for once on the lift of choice the control room will lock out all other levels."

Fox and his group headed toward the lifts and decided to take the large maintenance lift to avoid being separated in case of an attack. Instead of buttons with numbers, there was a one through nine key pad with two larger buttons on the side marked zero and enter.

Ken went to the key pad and remarked, "Makes sense, like you would have room for that many individual buttons."

He then punched in 150 and enter. The lifts heavy doors slammed shut surprisingly quickly and the lift began to rise. Ken then removed his suits helmet and said, "Damm thing itches like crazy."

Falco asked, "So what's the weather like in here?"

Ken remarked, "Cool but not really cold. Air seems a bit stale, and there is a faint metallic smell. Nothing to worry about though."

The rest of the team then removed their helmets. Kat commented, "Man I agree with you on that. These suits definitely give you an itch." She paused for a second and then added, "Kind of smells like a warehouse or factory in here."

Fox said, "Yeah these suits always do that, I've been meaning to have them replaced but the budgets been extremely tight. When this is over I'll get new ones."

Krystal then said, "Fox, I believe the lifts slowing down."

Fox then drew his blaster pistol. Falco and Katt did the same. Krystal got into a defensive stance with her staff and Ken just pulled a large combat knife that was concealed in one of the suits large cargo pockets.

The lift finally stopped. There was a dinging noise at which Falco sarcastically, "Cute!"

The doors opened and what was beyond them was definitely a surprise.

Four beings with automatic slug throwers were positioned waiting. They weren't wearing space suits and the only way any of them could describe e what they looked like was in two words—Hairless Apes. They wore dark green uniforms with two gold stripes running along them and helmets that seemed to cover their entire head and went down to their ears and wrapped around and back up again. After about a minute of both sides ready to shoot a voice yelled "Enough Already! Are you trying to start a war? "

Fox, his crew and the soldiers that were outside the elevator looked toward the source of the voice. It was another weird furless ape, but instead of the uniform the others were wearing, his had black stripes instead of gold, as well as collar studs that were much more elaborate. He then engaged the magnetic boots, floated to the ground and one of the soldiers snapped a salute and said, "Forgive me commander, were just taking precautions in case the critters turn out to be hostile, sir."

Fox thought to himself—this is their commander, doesn't seem to look like the type.

Fox then remembered that he was probably basing his assumption on those simian commanders Venom had during the war and decided that even though they looked like the apes, they seemed to be way more collected. He'll have to save judgment for later.

The commander said to his soldier, "Understandable." He then turned to Fox and his crew and said, "I apologize, I'm Charles Bluestone of the Zeon Recolonization Forces.

You may lower your weapons as you see I have none on me at the moment. If you may please follow me and my guards, we have so much to discuss, and maybe so little time.

Author's note: This has got to be one of the longer chapters I've written. Also just to clear up any confusion, here's a pair of explanations: A. Slug thrower is a term for a projectile weapon that doesn't use lasers or beams but solid ammunition. The term was coined in some of the old star wars novels and it seems to fit here. B. As for the standard Zeon soldier's helmet, it's pretty much the same as the type the German's wore during WWII, only made of a lighter more modern alloy.

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Next: A Zeon history and biology lesson.

Rave Drifter


	7. Chapter 7

Deep inside Second Axis, Fox and his group were following this one strange skinned ape with four others walking behind them, guns slightly raised. As they were being lead down the hall, Fox couldn't help but notice that they were being observed from behind doors and around corners. It was as if they had never seen anyone like them before.

Almost as if the lead ape was reading his thoughts, Bluestone said, "Forgive my men, we've been asleep for a long time. Even though they knew it was a possibility, they probably didn't expect to run into another form of intelligent life."

Krystal looked at him and said, "What do you mean by asleep?"

Bluestone replied, "Everything as you can see must be quite primitive by your standards.

The same can be said for this places engines as well. This project started as soon as we perfected cryogenics. When we left home, we were all in a state of suspended animation; this facility's computer guided our faculty from star to star looking for a new home. Eventually we came here, where our computer found that the fifth planet from the star is suitable for our needs and thus woke us up. I shall admit, 1500 years in our time for our ship to find an inhabitable world surprises me. I thought it would take much longer."

Fox and his crew were now staring at Bluestone as if he was somewhat crazy.

Katt cut in first and said, "That's completely impossible! Cryogenics has only been around for about 7 or 8 decades. Also it is only used for medical. Such prolonged use is still a question of debate."

Before Katt could continue Krystal added, "I see. Exactly how many beings are on this asteroid?"

Bluestone answered, "Currently all 10, 000 of our military personnel are awake. The other 15, 000 are personnel families or reserves. The reserves are slowly awakening and should all be awake in 3 days of our time. The civilians will remain asleep until construction of a suitable settlement is nearly complete."

Falco said, "Wait—time out! You're saying there are 25,000 of you guys inside this rock, you've been frozen for a century and a half and now you are waking up to colonize some out of the way planet?"

Bluestone said, "Well in crude laymen's terms—yes."

Bluestone then opened a side door and said, "Go right on in, this is a personnel break room, but I've had my guards to secure it for our continuing discussion."

The instant Fox walked in he yelled, "Bill are you o.k.?"

Bill looked up and said, "Fox? Damm, what the hell are you doing here?"

Fox simply scratched the back of his head and said, "Believe it or not that asshole Michael's hired us to find out what the hell happened to you."

Bill cracked up laughing, "Michaels did that! All the rebuilding must have him spread very thin if he was willing to contract you—I heard he'd rather shoot himself in the gut than have mercenaries do military work."

A clicking sound was then heard, and the group saw that Bluestone had shut the door to the break room behind him.

"So you're a mercenary team—something very bad must have occurred then if you're military is stretched as thin as you say." Stated Bluestone.

Bill replied, "I'm not saying anything until you answer some questions."

Bluestone looked at Bill and said, "O.K. I'll start from the beginning.

"At the end of the 21st century, humanity, our race, had descended into a third global war. Pollution had gotten to such a point that the ocean levels rose. Many of the rich costal countries erected large costal walls to hold back the torrent. The poorer countries were completely inialiated. The refugees from these countries plus the more inland impoverished nations were angered at what they felt was the world's ruling elite this started the war.

History from the time is very sketchy but what we do know is that both sides made large scale use of biological warfare. Genetically modified smart bugs designed to become inert after initial dispersion wiped out most of the world's population. When it ended only 5 billion of the 25 billion beings on our planet were left. Soon after the world's remaining governments merged to form the Earth Federation.

As the environmental clean up and massive shift towards cleaner energy sources began, the Federation in order to prevent over population began construction of space colonies called Sides.

Each Side was a cluster of fifty colonies, each individual colony capable of holding 5 million beings. The newer colonies constructed later could hold double that number.

Fifty one years after the mass clean up and colonization began – or as it is known on our calendar UC-0051—the Federation halted development of new colonies.

The population had managed to recover to about 11 billion. At least 9 billion inhabited space. However, history repeats itself as the remaining 2 billion stayed on Earth, stating they wanted to preserve Earth's biologic heritage. Since prices for goods were only half as much as on the colonies, many began to feel that the ruling elite planned for the poor and unwanted to be sent to the colonies, so they could enjoy their own personal Eden on Earth.

On one disgruntled colony, Zeon Daikun managed to take control of the Side 3 colony cluster and form the Republic of Zeon. The ruling Elite of Earth saw this as a threat and began a massive rearmament program around UC-0060. Because Daikun believed in peaceful negotiations, many saw him as a weak leader. In 0068 he was assassinated by the Zabi Family which then reformed the Colonies into the Principality of Zeon becoming a monarchy state

My parents, who were Earth politicians at the time, began working nonstop with negotiations on trade, price reduction of goods, and reduction of military forces in order to prevent what they knew would be an upcoming war.

However, one man Jamitov Hymem a rival politician had my parents killed. Angered at my own government I fled to Zeon and joined the military rising to Lieutenant prior to the beginning of the war."

Bluestone went on explaining the one year war, Operation Stardust—The Rise of the Secret Police Force the Titians. "Axis returned to Earth while he and his group stayed behind working on the recolonization project. Axis' defeat due to internal conflict and finally him and his forces going into suspended animation and leaving the solar system altogether.

Silence engulfed the room after Bluestone finished.

Finally, Falco blurted out, "You guys are the most F'd up people I've every seen. I'm surprised you didn't go out and completely exterminate each other."

Katt knocked Falco on the head saying, "You idiot do you want us to get shot?"

Fox though to himself: These people are no better than Andross .

Krystal interrupted Katt and Falco arguing and said, "It's sad that your kind turned against each other. I can see why you would wish to flee. Also, everyone seemed to stare at us—is there a reason?"

Bluestone nodded and got up and grabbed a small book off the shelf. He opened it to a certain page and placed it on the table saying, "Take a look at this."

Krystal took a look at the book and quickly slid it over to Fox. Fox looked and saw what appeared to be him but on four legs. The book read: Red Fox. Family: Canidae. Species Order: Carnivor. Wide spread throughout North American and European Regions.

Bluestone said, "Your kind seems to bear a striking resemblance to the wild life where we come from. So we decided to do a comprehensive DNA analysis. That's why your friend William Grey is wearing that patch. We took skin, hair, blood, muscle and bone tissue samples. We made sure to close the wounds and to secure the massive bandage so there would be proper healing. In addition, we tripled the normal prisoner food rations to speed up the healing as much as possible."

Bill looked at the patch again, then the open book, then replied, "I see, and what about the rest of my crew?"

Bluestone said, "Still on your ship, confined under guard to their residential areas. Besides you we only took samples from six others. They are on the ship as well. The reason you were brought here directly is because you seem to be of the highest rank."

Fox who was still a tad disturbed over what he had just heard from Bluestone said, "Anything else—like what exactly are you going to do with our military ship?"

Bluestone replied, "We are currently copying all the computer data we can access to our main frame for further study. After that's done you are all free to go. Provided, of course, that you bring a message to your government on our behalf. We would like to colonize the small planet that's nearby. Even though our technology is primitive by your standards, I'm sure at the very least we could establish some sort of trade."

Bill just nodded and said, "I see. I'll have to think about it first."

Bluestone stated, "I realize that this is a delicate matter, however, I'm willing to use other means to make contact. I could have my technicians completely dissect your ship to figure out your communications system. Several of my techs have been dying to see how every last thing on your ship operates. They might likely accidentally of course destroy something essential like your life support."

At the exact same moment, Bill and Bluestone both drew their weapons directly pointing at each other and Fox and his group had also pulled their weapons in response. After a minute of standing there, Bluestone ejected the clip from is gun and laughed saying, "This is pretty much pointless. Even if you were to manage to fight your way back to your ship, we still have just enough fire power to prevent your ships from leaving the vicinity. As I said earlier, we mean no hostilities, if it will make you feel more secure I'm willing to let you contact your officials directly. The minovsky particle field is still down so I'm sure you can make contact with your nearest facility."

Bill ejected the battery from his blaster and said, "Two conditions: 1. I want my crew to be released from confinement from the residential areas of the ship. 2. I want as much data as you can provide seeing as you're taking some from my ship. Also after I'm done with communications, I want myself, my ship's intelligence officer, and Fox and his team to be shown this entire place from top to bottom."

Bluestone nodded and said, "That will be agreeable. I'll be back in one hour, I have to brief security. In the meantime, you're welcome to do whatever you want in this room. If you need something, just ask one of the guards posted outside."

Bluestone left and Fox said, "This is screwed up."

Falco said, "I hear you, I'm going to need a good long stiff drink when this crap is over."

Bill said to Falco, "I think I'll come with you."

Ken who had mostly been quiet nodded and said, "I'm kind of interested in the tour myself. I'd like to get a closer look at one of their mobile suits. Especially if they have one from the One Year War."

Everyone stared at Ken and he said, "What? I'm just interested in how they worked mechanically especially since they're probably so primitive. I might be able to learn a few things. For example, how did they work in those particle fields."

Katt said, "I don't like this, however, now that Ken mentions it, I'm somewhat interested myself. Maybe we can find a way to rig the Arwings to actually work in such an environment. Other than that, I could use a drink too as long as bird brain is buying."

Falco laughed and said, "I bet you couldn't hold anything like that down."

Katt said, "If that's a bet as soon as we get back—contest, whoever drinks the most without passing out wins loser buys."

As Falco and Katt started arguing, yet again, Bill said, "Kind of like the good old days, Huh Fox?"

Fox just nodded and said, "Yeah, kind of makes you think we never left the academy."

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Next: Communications and Tour

Rave Drifter


	8. Chapter 8

Inside the Asteroid compound Fox and his crew along with Bill were being led by Bluestone, who had just reappeared on a lift. On it were two soldiers along with someone Fox hadn't seen in years.

Fox exclaimed, "Fara?"

The female Fennec exclaimed, "Fox—what in the name of Gaia are you doing here?"

Bill explained, "She's the in-ops officer on my ship."

Falco asked, "Really what happened to the test piloting and working for space dynamics?"

Fara sighed and said, "Wasn't all that good. I got cut from the military testing program after the war, and as for working for space dynamics—I quit and went into military intelligence. My boss at SD was a sexist perverted weasel. I went after he remarked that I shouldn't be in the cockpit but in his bed. I think his legs should be out of the casts by now."

Katt laughed and said, "If I were there it would have been a lot worse. He would have had a hole in his head to let out all the hot air."

Fara chuckled and said, "I don't think that would have gone over very well—that jerks bosses bosses boss is head of research and development there."

She then looked over and said, "And you must by Krystal. Fox has told me so much about you. Let me be the first to congratulate you."

Everyone looked at Fox and Fox replied, "We keep in touch. Just because we are no longer in the academy doesn't mean we can't communicate once in a while."

Before anyone else could comment, the lift stopped and Bluestone said, "This way please."

They soon found themselves on a glass enclosed balcony overlooking one of the atmospheres-less hangers. There were several odd looking green ships that seemed to have their engines attached in pods hanging from the ship instead of buried in the fuselage.

Bluestone began, "First the ships: What you're seeing here is several Musai modified late models or MLM's. Originally created as a medium cruiser we have ripped out one of the gun turrets to install a launch catapult along the body center line. This was mostly inspired by the Feds who modified their Salamis class ships the same way. It can carry four mobile suits and one re-entry shuttle. To make up for the loss of one gun turret, we increased the power of the Minovsky particle jamming equipment as well as the active sensors. Our battle strength is made up of 15 ships. Twelve of these MLM's, two Endra class, which are decedent of the original Musai class—and the Santa Maria, the Sadaran Class ship you saw leading you in.

As for our mobile suits or Ride Armors as you call them, they are this way so follow me. There are a few in a pressurized storage bay we have not gotten around to emptying."

While Fara was taking notes on a pad she was provided, Ken asked, "About that; I was wondering, you wouldn't happen to have an old model from the 1 year war would you?"

Bluestone thought for a moment and said, "We have a couple—why?"

Ken answered, "Just curious to see how they worked. Besides you said they practically revolutionized you species way of fighting wars."

Katt added, "I'm interested for a different reason—how in the hell could they function in that particle field you have mentioned?"

Bluestone smiled and said, "Well you are in for a treat. It just so happens that I have a few oldies from the war as well as some of the newer stuff we received before our departure."

Bluestone stepped in front a blast door and punched in a key code and swiped his security card. The door creaked open and the lights turned on revealing 12 mobile suits lined up in a row.

Bluestone stopped in front of the first one and said, "This right here is the 06-F, or as it's usually referred to the Zaku-2. This is what you would call the wars arch type, for it was the most heavily mass produced unit in the 1 year war. Obsolete by current standards, we use them mostly for external maintenance work."

The next mobile suite Bluestone showed them looked a bit more bulky yet streamlined than the Zaku-2. It also for some bazaar reason had a round port hole style cockpit hatch rather than the 2 piece fold out. Bluestone stated, "This is the 14A or Gelgoog. It was to be our mass produced answer to the Feds Gundam series. Unfortunately, it was deployed only during the last weeks of the war and didn't make much difference." He then added in a depressed tone, "If we hadn't wasted time trying to improve all those damm experimental models, it could have been mass produced months sooner and the war could have gone our way."

Further down the line Bluestone introduced them to several other units that included the Glabaday Alpha, one of the so-called experimental models mainly created to improve on the Gelgoog's performance in close combat as well as mobility. The Marasai a unit created by the Federation's secret police, the Titians while it out performed the earlier model the Hizack, it wasn't as easy to customize and modify as it. After the Titians fell, most of the surpluses Hizack's were used in the Axis' war while these surplus units were shipped off to him and his second Axis forces.

Bluestone added that they did manage to increase its performance, cut its acceleration time in half and gave it the ability to carry more powerful energy weapons, thanks in part to some higher grade wiring and a all new 2,000MW compact reactor. Because of all these improvements he added, they dubbed the MS AMX-108 Resai, which shortened from refined Marasai. The Dreissen FZ, also a redevelopment of an original unit, only this time the original was created by them. This version was created more for general purpose combat rather than close range fighting like the original. By far the most intimidating units were the last two. Bluestone's personal Zaku 3 which its internal mouth beam gun, twin 40mm. machine cannons one mounted in each shoulder (which he added was unique to his personal model) and the Qubeley mass production type. It was the only one of its kind that survived the internal conflicts which destroyed Neo-Zeon.

Suddenly there was a loud humm! Everyone turned to see that Ken was now sitting inside of the ancient Zaku-2 and had somehow managed to power the thing up.

Falco floated up to the suits hatch and said, "What do you think you are doing?"

The raccoon just ignored him and muttered, "Fascinating. The pilot is suspended in a short of floating chair in the middle of a bubble. The walls are monitors—you can see in every direction."

By now everyone else had assembled at the hatch, and even Fox had to admit that the unobstructed view seemed like a superb feature.

After Ken powered down the suit. Katt asked, "What happens if one of the cameras is knocked out? Does that section of the bubble go blank?"

Krystal added, "I'm sure it must have some sort of back-up feature. Right?"

Bluestone said, "There are auxiliary cameras if that is what you are implying. Besides, (he then held up what looked like a small coin) the cameras are roughly about this size and usually then lenses is tinted to be the same color as the mobile suit, so you just can't target them one by one hoping to blind the damm thing. I also think that these lenses are made of some sort of transparent metal alloy. Never took the time to find out, you will have to ask engineering."

Bill said, "Makes some sense, I guess—any thing else we need to be shown?"

Bluestone said, "Not really, you have seen all the things that can be shown safely. For security reasons I will not be able to show you the cryo-storage or the main or auxiliary CPU cores or the main reactor. However, if all goes well with your government, you will probably be the first to see them Of course, by now it is probably getting quite late—by our time anyway."

The guards that had been following them snapped to attention and Bluestone said, "Would you be so kind as to escort our guests back to their respective ships? I should really be finishing up some minor paperwork before I turn in."

As Bluestone walked away, Fara asked "What about your promise to let us browse through the unrestricted parts of the CPU core?"

Bluestone left the room and one guard said, "You'll be provided with a PTA with an uplink to the base archives."

Meanwhile light years away Commander Michaels was prepping for a news conference.

Having received the transmission from star fox team and the ramifications of what they had found had sent him and his staff into a frenzy.

Some wanted to blow away these so called humans—after all they did take a light cruiser and its entire crew hostage, others thought they should at least try to negotiate. After all it was them who shot first according to the report. However, one of Michael's closest friends a ferret by the name of Jack Ryan, who was the head of in-ops, had the best idea. He suggested that since the report stated they were refugees who in their opinion were fleeing from a corrupt government, they should be granted amnesty and be allowed to settle R-351.

The planet and the systems was just far enough away to be of no tactical or political importance. Plus if they were to help them settle by offering supplies and food as well as opening up trade, it would make Michaels look compassionate and quite possibly divert or even silence critics of the military build up.

Michaels smiled as he stepped in front of the cameras.

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Rave Drifter


	9. Chapter 9

If there was one thing Fox had learned repeatedly over the years, it was that nothing should be taken at face value. It had only been a few hours since the meeting and just minutes after commander Michaels made that speech over the hyper space networks.

Fox had a pretty good idea what he was thinking. There were those who thought his whole military rebuild was just inviting another war with Venom. This was pretty much one of the oldest tricks in the book.

Everyone was off doing their own thing. Ken and Katt were still down in the hangers of the asteroid, along with several Zeon engineers learning just about everything possible about mobile suits. Fara was currently on the Great Fox combing through hundreds of data files on human history. Fox out of curiosity took a look at some of it and it was a mixture of extremely morbid wars as well as inspiration and hope. If they weren't killing each other very hundred years or so, their technology could easily have been up to par with theirs. The fact that most of the wars were spawned out of religious fanatics didn't help the fact either. Falco was simply bored. He just basically wandered around the asteroid gambling with some of the locals last he checked.

The com beeped and Fox switched it on saying, "Yeah, who is it?"

Bill appeared on the view screen; apparently back in his own ship, "Fox just wanted to give you a heads up. Michaels just sent me a burst transmission. He and the third fleet will be here in about 30 hours to negotiate a treaty—also apparently he has had some sort of change of heart towards mercenaries or something. He's offering you an extra 5 million credits if you will provide back-up during the negotiations."

Fox chuckled and said, "Bastard is probably trying to cover all of his bases. I only took this job because he offered to get rid of all that debt from rebuilding my ship. An extra 5 million bonus now sounds good. I'll inform everyone else. How's everything on your end?"

Bill said, "Oh not too bad. Bluestone sent over a Lisbon and four armed guards. Other than that there are no long engineers swarming over my ship. All his doing is the same thing that Fara is doing. Combing through our historical archives. Very quiet guy I have to admit. No one seems to be able to get more than 5 words out of him at a time. Definitely an old fashioned scholar. Bill out."

The com blanked out and Fox reached into his pocket and grabbed a portable communicator. Fox sighed and said better tell everyone that Michaels is coming.

Elsewhere Star Fox engineer Ken Ricker was trenched in sweat. The raccoon was sitting in what looked like the cockpit of a mobile suit. Outside what looked like a wrecked space colony floated in front of him. He was hiding behind a piece of debie. His gelgoog covered in scorch marks from near misses. Suddenly a flash of light, Ken dodged the beam to see another gelgoog barreling straight at him sword drawn swinging its sword at a wide angle.

Ken smirched, the opponent got reckless. He dodged the energy blade and pointed his rifle straight at it and fired. The beam went clear though the MS's back and out the other side causing it to explode in an impressive fireball. The screens of the cockpit went blank and the hatch opened revealing that it was all just a simulator, several giant metal balls with hatches and wires attached were lined up in a row. Out of the other one came his opponent, a Zeon test pilot by the name of Ryan Feffer.

Ryan smiled and said, "You are getting better ringtail. This time you actually got me and it only took you what—5 tries?"

Katt laughed and said, "I was able to waste him in 3 tries, looks like I win."

Ken said "Whatever, fine, here's your 20 credits." He said while slapping 20 flexible plastic credits into Katt's paw. He then said, "How about double or nothing—you against me? Same battle field, the Texas colony debris field."

Before Katt could answer there was a beeping noise. Ken answered and said, "Yeah Fox what is it? He's coming here? Oh, I guess then it isn't that bad. We're coming right away."

Ken said to Katt "It looks like we'll have to take a rain check on that one. Michaels is coming, we are going to get some extra credits playing bodyguard to that jerk."

Katt replied, "Sounds good, and thanks again Ryan."

The test pilot smiled and said, "Sure thing. If you ever feel like finishing your bet or having a go at an old pro—you can find me down in maintenance."

Still elsewhere Falco was in one of the asteroids many break rooms gambling with what looked to be a Lieutenant Commander of all people. The LC had just won Falco's flight jacket as well as his lucky scarf—a hold over from his days in the biker gang. While Falco in return had won the LC's helmet and an old beat up honor medal from the 1 year war.

The LC said, "One more round. This time a game from my ancestral home land." He then took a dark colored glass, shook it; then set it upside down on the table. He explained, "If the numbers come up even that are hun—if it comes up odd that cho. You have to guess what it will be. Incorrect I win, correct you win. We will play double or nothing. If you win you get all your things back plus my old combat knife. If I win I get my stuff plus that fancy beam pistol of yours."

Falco laughed and said, "I never back down from a challenge—especially when it comes to gambling. I say its cho"

The LC lifted the cup revealing that both dice added up to seven. He smacked himself on the forehead and handed over his knife as well as Falco's scarf and jacket and walked off mumbling all sorts of profanities under his breath. Two lower ranked Zeon troops who were watching cracked up laughing.

"That's LC Aramaki for you. He always loses it all at the last minute!"

Before Falco would respond his com went off. Falco answered, "Hey Fox, what is it? –What do you mean that ass hole is coming here? – Well that at least makes him tolerable.—I'll be right there."

Falco then said to two lower ranking soldiers, "I've got to go."

One of the soldiers said, "No problem Birdie! Hey later on can you get back here? I've got a bottle of the good stuff hid away before we all got iced. I bet no where else can you get a bottle of wine a century and a half old."

Finally in another part of the asteroid, we see Krystal mediating in an empty break room.

The door slammed open revealing a brown haired human in what looked like a custom white space suit. He then quite accidentally tripped over Krystal's staff which she had left on the floor, and in the low gravity environment flew straight into the opposite wall.

Krystal broke meditation and grabbed the guy saying, sorry, sorry are you alright?

The guy replied, "Ugh, whatever." He then stumbled over to the drink machine and out came a can of water.

Krystal looked at him and asked, "Are you sure?"

The guy yelled out, "Stop that! Do you want to die like all the others?"

Krystal was now both scared yet curious and asked, "Others?"

The guy slumped to the floor, "Yea others. I used to be a Federation pilot—Special Forces. I was assigned the experimental G05 and stationed on one of those experimental carriers. You know the ones Bluestone talked about."

Krystal thought for a second and said, "The White Base?"

"No, it was a sister ship. The Thoroughbred, I haven't thought about it for a long time. We were supposed to hide behind enemy lines, monitoring enemy lunar activity and conduct suicidal guerilla attacks against enemy supply lines. During one such raid, my elder and kind of friend of mine Luce Kassel who piloted Gundam G04 got killed. Our one ship was ordered to take down an entire friggin battle group or be locked in the can for a couple of decades. He used an experimental beam weapon, never got tested. It worked great for about 2 seconds slicing through 3 of the 15 ships then it detonated taking Luce and the G04 with it. Afterwards, we were given a mission; escort the Zeon Prime Minister to sign a treaty to end the damm war. Our ship and the guy's were ambushed by a bunch of fanatics who would rather see Side 3 obliterated than surrender to the Federation. It was a nightmare. When it ended only I and the half destroyed G05 were left. The Thoroughbred, the Prime Ministers ship, all the fanatics and our MS's were annilated. I was later picked up—while I was in the ship's medical I overheard this official Bask Om not really all that high ranked but enough to boss a fleet or two around saying that the plan to use the Thorobred and a skeleton crew Zeon ship as decoys was a success and that the Prime Minister had made it to Luna hours ago. The bastard even went on to say that because we mourn the death of Luce so much it made us too inefficient to be on the front lines. A good soldier doesn't mourn the death of one man no matter how much he was liked. A good soldier remains emotionless and fights until he or the enemy is completely destroyed, there can be no compromise in war. After that they erased all knowledge of the Thoroughbred and the G0 unit's existence. I was still on the rooster but it said I only just joined, so I wasn't entitled to any compensation whatsoever. A couple of years later during Stardust, I still hadn't been promoted, I probably kept getting turned down so everything would remain buried.

I made a decision just before the Zeon irregulars nuked Solomon, I snuck down to a classified hanger that I heard rumors about, killing about two dozen people along the way. It was true. They had rebuilt the G05. It was even fully armed with close range combat weapons, probably to silence protesting colonies through brut force. The damm thing even had triple layered air tight seals and nozzles built into the hands to spray napalm I overrode the hangers lock and managed to get out just before the nuke hit. I later joined the irregulars in fleeing to Axis. When the recolonization project started I volunteered to stay behind, I wanted nothing to do with Earth or anything around there anymore, especially after that snake Bask Om became part of the Titians—a fleet commander for Christ sake!'

The human then popped the lid off the can of water and drank it down in one long gulp.

"That's why I encourage everyone to stay the hell away from me; I don't want anything like that to happen again."

Krystal lifted up her hand and said, "Hold still."

The human looked puzzled but didn't say a thing. As soon as Krystal touched his forehead she recoiled in shock and started to tremble.

The human now looked concerned and said, "What the hell—are you o.k.?"

Krystal said, "I'm sorry—I'm so very sorry. I saw everything. No living being should ever have to go through what I just saw."

Before the human could reply the door opened again revealing Fara who said, "There you are. You had your com turned off, Fox sent me to look for you."

Krystal said, "Really, what is going on?"

Fara said, "Michaels is coming—we are getting an extra 5 million to guard his sorry tail."

Krystal said, "I see—I'll be heading back."

Fara nodded and said, "I overheard everything, sounds like something Venom would do—I apologize if this was private."

The human looked at her and said, "Oh no problem, but what's with her she said she saw everything? Is she a new type or something?"

Fara remembering what she had read in the archives said, "It's a bit more complicated than that."

The human nodded and said, "O.K. well you better get going. By the way, names Ford Romfellow formerly of the Federation's 16th automous core."

Krystal nodded and said, "It was nice to meet you Ford. I went through something similar. We should talk again."

As the two left Ford thought—another like me?

Elsewhere on the Trinity, Bill had finished briefing the crew on what was to happen. A cinnamon colored cat in an engineering uniform was walking down the hall from the ended meeting. He came to an area of the wall, checked to see that no one was watching, and then popped one of the walls panels revealing a tight maintenance corridor. The cat literally squeezed down the corridor, going deeper into the mess of pipes, wires, and circuitry until he reached a small open area. It was one of many used by maintenance gangs to rest and store essentials.

The cat was a Venom sleeper agent. One of only a few left after the war, but still remained hidden and loyal. This was a chance, something the shattered remnants couldn't pass up. He took out an old pocket watch and unscrewed the reverse side revealing an extremely tiny and expensive encrypted hyperspace communications device.

"2X2L calling VII—confirmation OP-Code Angle without Mercy. Anyone Read—Over:"

After 5 minutes a voice came over the com, "I can't believe one of you guys is still active 2X2L this is Venom High Command. What do you have to report?"

The cat smiled and whispered into the com, "A once in an eternity opportunity."

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Next: Negotiate and the Strike of Venom

Rave Drifter


	10. Chapter 10

Dropping in 3—2—and now! Out of the void of hyper space, 25 ships appeared. Straight ahead was Second Axis, the spiked cylinder like asteroid slowly spinning.

Michaels said, "Not much to look at. Hard to believe there are so many in suspended animation in such a place."

"Commander—Contact, unknown classification."

Michaels squinted his eyes looking out the window, as if to try to see what was coming. There was what looked like a wedged shaped craft of some sort escorted by two of those mobile suits they called them. They were slowly heading towards them.

There was a beeping noise and the Com Officer said, "Sir, contact is identifying as Komusai 317, they are hear to pick you up and escort."

The meerkat smiled and said, "I want ten of our best with me on the shuttle. All ships of the third fleet are to follow behind at distance."

With a cry of Yes Sir from the bridge crew, Michaels and his bodyguards proceeded down to the hanger where the shuttle was to pick them up.

Much further out, however, something different was unfolding. Fifteen more ships appeared out of hyperspace. Much older and looking like they had seen better days, the box like dregnots were part of Imperial Venom, close enough to launch an attack, but just far enough from enemy sensors.

Sitting in the captain's chair of the lead ship was a Komodo dragon who looked worn. He was constantly thinking about the battle ahead carefully calculating every variable and possibility. After all, he thought, it was because of his lack of attention to detail that the sector six defensive line fell in the war all those years ago.

He muttered under his breath, "Dammit McCloud, you and your mercenary jackals" He then yelled over the Com, "Load all Hellfire and Skipper Missiles! Prep for diversionary bombardment! Boarding parties to assault shuttles immediately! We are to storm the asteroid and bleed their computers dry!"

At the same time this declaration was being made, Michaels had just been let in through the air lock and was finally allowed to remove his space suit. There in front of him stood the skin ape who called himself Commander Bluestone, head of this facility, along with Commander William Grey and that mercenary Fox, who shot him a dirty look. Michaels just shrugged it off and said, "Commander Bluestone, I'm General Commander Michaels of the Corneria Commonwealth. And I am pleased to welcome you to our corner of the galaxy. We have much to discuss, but I'm pleased to say that our home can be your people's home as well."

Fox whispered to Bill, "Bet he rehearsed the whole damm thing on the way here."

Bill couldn't help but chuckle and agreed with Fox. All the while Bluestone finished introducing himself and said, "Well then we should probably head up to my office and hammer out the details of our agreement as well as our sovernity and claim to the R-351 system."

Suddenly there was a massive rumble that shook the asteroid. One of Michael's bodyguards—a badger darted his head around while holding a plasma auto rifle yelled, "What the hell, did something just hit us?"

A Zeon trooper appeared out of nowhere and all of Michael's bodyguards quickly raised their auto rifles. The trooper ignored them and yelled, "Commander—new contacts have appeared and opened fire. One of the critters ships and the MLM-Valencia were destroyed. We're under mid level bombardment."

Bluestone said, "What! Where is the attack coming from?"

He then shot a glare at Michaels and Michaels said, "Why the hell would we shoot down one of our ships with yours?" He then noticed a buzzing sound and took out a data pad and yelled, "What" in to it.

A voice on the other end of the communications stream said, "Sir this is the flag ship Geodancer. Fifteen Venom Dragnots have just appeared out of nowhere. The Spirit of Dawn and one of the alien vessels were destroyed in the opening barrage. Orders Commander?"

Bluestone said to Michaels, "Order your ships to join with mine—I'll launch all available mobile suits to attack. We'll cover them with a combined barrage."

Michaels said, "Very well, I'll have our entire fighters scramble as well." Michaels then shot a look at Fox and said, "What the hell are you still doing here? Go and blast those damm apes out of the sky."

Back at the Venom fleet, already the assault shuttles and the half circled shaped Lasher Assault Fighters were spewing forth from the hangers. On one such shuttle, a mixed group of lizards and lemurs were conducting a final weapons check before locking on the helmets to their space suits. One figure already in his suit was sitting on the ground however, drawing with some kind a chalk a complicated array of symbols.

The pilot of the shuttle yelled back, "More of those weird ass ride armor! Corneria FM-45 fighters inbound."

The figure sitting on the floor yelled back, "It's done—here we go!"

The figure temporarily undid one of his suit gloves and made a small cut on his furred hand. He smeared the blood over the palms of his suit gloves and slammed them down while chanting something on the recently drawn symbols. There was a brief shaking and the pilot yelled, "Looks like the damm thing worked. Those morons are scattering in all directions."

The lone figure snapped back on his glove over his cut hand and said to the pilot, "Gun It, I only put enough power into the cloaking spell to last a minute or two."

The pilot looked back and said, "Yeah, Yeah, we're approaching what looks like a hanger, check all suits pressure seals, we are going in hot and we're going in fast. Primary objective is to storm this things CPU core and download everything we can get our hand on. Secondary objectives are to retrieve the sleeper and to assassinate Michaels if it is possible."

The strange figure then said, "Understood—Ramming Speed!"

Back on the Asteroid, Fox had just managed to board his ship. Bill tagging along since his ship was clear on the other side of the base, with no time to get to it.

Falco yelled, "What the hell are the apes doing here?"

Fox replied, "Don't know and I don't think we want to find out. Prepare to launch. Ready the Arwings. Switch all ships systems over to combat mode. Where the hell is Krystal and Ken?"

Katt replied, "Krystal is still in the break room, I gave her a call over the com and she is on her way, I have no clue where Ken is."

Before Fox could respond the radio began blaring out all shorts of chaos—most of which was from inside the base.

"All hands activate static defense AA guns, and Mega particle cannons—full counter barrage. Cover our ships as well as the Critter's."

Another voice even more panicked yelled, "We got boarders on level 93—fire teams Lambda through November intercept immediately."

After that, Fox yelled, "Crap! That's two levels below us." He grabbed his Com and yelled, "Krystal are you there?"

Krystal replied, "Loud and clear, I'm at the airlock."

Fox replied, "Stay there, the apes have landed a combat team, I'm going to grab some auto-rifles from the armory and we are both going to assist." He then looked over at Bill and Fara and said, "Can you two still fly a fighter?"

Bill looked at him and said, "It's been practically been eight years and you want me to fly one of the Arwings?"

Fara just said, "I'm o.k. with that, after all back when I was at SD, I was the one who tested flew the things."

Fox nodded and said, "Bill you better remember really fast, because these humans are going to need all the help they can get. Venom landing parties are extremely vicious."

Bill nodded and said, "I know, but who's going to---"

Fox said, "Way ahead of you. Fara while I'm gone you lead the team. You and Falco up front, Bill and Katt in back."

Falco quickly yelled, "What the hell, you told me that if for any reason you were unable I was supposed to lead."

Fox snapped back, "listen, Fara test flew these things before we got them, besides in the war she actually led a fighter squadron." He then said, "I'll make it up to you next time."

Falco muttered, "Yeah, Yeah, whatever. Let's blast those stupid monkeys."

Back in the interior of Second Axis, Zeon soldiers were slowly back stepping while letting loose short control bursts from their submachine guns. 10mm Zeonic auto-rounds flying at insane speeds due to the low gravity:

"Reload—One 30 round clip."

"This is Fire Team November, boarders are pushing hard."

"Hey look they are beginning to fall back!"

"What's that one doing just standing there?"

"What the hell is he doing with that---AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

When it was over standing in the corridor was the same figure from on the shuttle. Only without his Helmut and gloves, a Fox with blood red fur and batches of black fur that looked like ruins on the left side of his face. Silently he ran his hand over the blunt end of the sword and all the gore on the blade slid right off. In front of him was a large cloud of ash as well as several charred helmets. He mumbled to himself" Need to get some practice in later, two of those weirdoes dodged my incinerate and I had to defile the royal blade."

A lemur standing behind him said, "That was totally F'd up. Remind me not to get on your bad side."

The blood red fox nodded and said, "Agreed—onward to the core."

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Next: A blood stained past

Rave Drifter


	11. Chapter 11

Fox and Krystal were rushing down the hall, auto rifles in tow in pursuit of the Venom Boarding Team. The two came to what appeared to be a five way intersection.

Fox asked, "Well—which way?"

Krystal focused for a minute and said, "I'm sorry Fox there is just too much interference, I can't pick them up."

Fox exclaimed, "Ahh shit!"

He then noticed a call box on the wall and ripped it open holding down the button and yelling, "Anyone respond!"

Bluestone's voice cam over the com exclaiming, "McCloud, but I thought that Michaels said---"

Fox cut him off saying, "No time—me and Krystal are trying to intersect the borders. The rest of my team is in the fighters, we are at a five way intersection on level 93—which way?"

Bluestone said, "Alright then, do you see any markings on the ceiling?"

Krystal looked up and saw a series of symbols and said, "Yes it says H3EDF17."

Bluestone replied, "O.K. gives me a sec."

Over the com they could hear what sounded like typing and finally, "Alright there, do you know which way you came into the intersection?"

Fox said, "Yes, there is now a path to the left—a path to the right—one straight ahead going left and one straight ahead going right."

Bluestone said, "Go down the one straight right. You'll see a lift bank further on. Take it up to level 100and as soon as you exit make another right and head straight down the hall. That will take you to the CPU core. We lost contact with the security check points about a minute ago. If they get to the core they could shut down our weapons, kill everyone still in statis—all sorts of stuff I don't even want to imagine."

Fox said, "Thanks!" turning off the com. He and Krystal ran down the designated hall and after another minute came to the lift bank. One of the lifts opened automatically and there was Ken and two other Zeon soldiers.

Fox exclaimed, "Ken where the hells were you?"

Ken said, "Ah, shut up! I was down analyzing one of the old Zakus when the Apes started blasting. Me and these two engineers are heading for the Great Fox."

Fox shoved Ken back into the elevator and Krystal followed.

Ken yelled, "Hey what the—"

Fox cut him off saying, "Ship is already gone. The apes are messing with the main computer."

Fox then punched in the correct numbers and the lift's door slammed and the lift began to rise. One of the Zeon engineers that were with Ken exclaimed, "Crap! There is a small armory off the room security checkpoint. We should probably grab what we can."

Up in the core, we see the Crimson Furred Fox and several Venom troopers hot wiring the main computer. The computer was massive and the terminals were on a small completely enclosed platform in the middle of the room. To get there, you had to cross a small retractable bridge.

One Lemur said, "All right we are in—commencing full download."

An Iguana listened to a com and explained, "Secondary objective achieved, we have retrieved the sleeper. Can't get to Michaels as he is too heavily guarded."

Another Lemur added, "We should have full download in five minutes—Sir what's the matter?"

The Crimson Fox said, "Something's coming—I can feel it."

He then yelled, "I'm going outside to defend the entrance to the Core. Continue downloading."

Back outside, Fox, Krystal, Ken and the two engineers passed a secondary security checkpoint. When at the first checkpoint at the armory, Ken only having a large combat knife looted a 10mm SMG and pistol, the two engineers also grabbed the same and Fox managed to find lying loosely in a crate a couple of flash bangs.

Just like the last checkpoint there was no one there, alive at least. Broken glass, smashed computers, shell casings and massive scorch marks everywhere. Charred helmets and small pieces of cloth littered the floor. There were also several bodies that looked to be literally severed in half. Even more disturbing was there was no mess and gore. Whatever did this somehow cauterized everything instantly.

Fox mumbled, "I think I'm going to throw up."

Ken knelled down along side one of the bodies and said, "No way in the name of

Gaia could ordinary weapons do this." Ken then yanked out the guns current clip and using one he grabbed in the armory, slapped it in. Loaded with anti personnel tracer rounds instead of the usual it was apparent to Fox that Ken was taking whatever was going on very seriously. He also noticed that the two engineers were following Ken's lead replacing standard shells with tracer rounds.

The group proceeded further down the hall padding more carnage. Finally, Fox raised his had signaling everyone to stop. Using a small piece of metal, Fox positioned it to see around the corner.

Fox quietly said, "The Core is straight ahead, but there is only one person guarding it. Can't make anything else out. Lucky I found anything reflective at all."

Before anything else was said, the two engineers leaped around the corner firing. About a second later to Fox and his group's horror, the two burst into flames and disintegrated.

Nothing left but two scorch marks and scraps of uniform.

Krystal tightened her grip on her staff. "Whoever this is, he is using magic."

Ken whispered, "Wait a sec, I thought only you could do that"

Krystal nodded and said, "I didn't think there was anyone like me left." Then she added, "I'll go first, the two of you get behind me."

Fox exclaimed, "Krys are you sure?"

Krystal said, "I know the exact same trick, hardly every use it, and not on such a scale, but I know how to counter it."

Fox nodded and said, "Just be careful."

Ken added, "We'll be right behind you."

Krystal then got up and turned the corner holding her staff in a combat stance. Fox and Ken following behind, guns raised. In front of them was a Crimson Furred Fox in a Venom space suit holding a short sword engraved with strange markings.

Krystal pointed her staff at him and shouted, "Drop the blade now!"

The Crimson Fox turned around and upon seeing Krystal his eyes widened. Almost immediately they narrowed and he said, "Ah but this must be fate."

Ken yelled, "Didn't you hear the lady, drop the frigin sword."

The Crimson Fox yelled, "Stay out of things you cannot understand, you ignorant creature—or does though wish to meet thy end like the others?"

Fox then said, "I don't know how you are like Krystal but there is no way I'm going to let you leave this place alive."

The Crimson replied, "Ah and you must be McCloud, the mercenary demon of a corrupt democracy repressing the reptilian and simian races."

Fox was now pissed and yelled, "Demon of What? You are out of your mind Andross was conducting a genocide against us."

The Crimson said, "Well Corneria did it first, we're just returning the favor. After all it is the belief of the spirits of our ancestors that everything we do in life has an equal and opposite reaction."

Fox was about to fire when Krystal said, "Wait." She then while holding her stance asked, "Who are you?"

The Crimson chuckled and said, "Well you don't remember me, but that is to be expected, considering how much force I put behind that spell—allow me to Krystal to enlighten you and your friends of all their sins. I am Saber of the Crimson Sky Clan, Prince of Cerenia the planet in which Corneria destroyed—as well as your cousin by blood."

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Next: Part II: Blood Stained Past

Rave Drifter


	12. Chapter 12

Fox, Ken, and Krystal were starring at the Crimson in disbelief.

Krystal said softly, "Cousin?"

The Crimson known as Saber replied, "Correct. I didn't expect you to be here. I hope I wouldn't have to cross paths until everything I needed to do was said and done. However, the spirits of fate have thrown quite a quandary in my path."

Fox yelled, "Shut the hell up! Stop filling her head with lies."

Saber said, "Lies McCloud? Let me ask you do you really think there is such a thing as good or evil? Personally, I don't believe in such tangible things. Everything that is done in life and death is nothing more than dwelling in a permanent shade of grey. For instance, you probably don't know the truth why all the reptilian and simian species united under Andross against Corneria. The truth is simple really, during an ancient war; your kinds as well as the simians were engaged in battle over their planet.

Some of your ships fell out of orbit during said engagement. The primitive fuels and chemicals used in your ships at this time caused a complete environmental collapse.

Afterwards the temperature of the planet skyrocketed. Why else do you think Titania would have all those ruins?"

Ken said, "What a sec do you mean to tell me that that dust ball was –"

Saber cut him off, "Correct. Their home. To add insult to injury, when you relocated those who survived you didn't even bother trying to find a similar planet. You just dumped them on Venom, a planet which is the complete and total opposite of what they once had, while you continued your war with hardly any regard to those you relocated."

Fox stared at Saber and said, "But that was practically 2 thousand years ago, during the first age of colonial expansion. Why the hell would they want to fight for vengeance over something so ancient?"

Saber replied, "You don't know much about the reptilian races do you? They live 4 time longer than your kind so while a Corneriain can live up to about 100 110 on average, they can live till 4 or 5 hundred years. So to your kind it may seem like another era to them it's something that is burned into their conscience as if it happened yesterday. Of course your treatment of the Simians was no better. After Corneria won the colonial conflict, Corneria nearly forced all Simians to live in exile on Venom. And like the Reptilian race; they were only given just enough to survive."

Fox looked at Saber and said, "That's not what happened, the history books said they went into exile themselves."

Saber cracked up laughing and said, "You shouldn't always believe what you read, especially since you exist in a militarized democracy. I'm willing to bet that some of the documents might have survived and are locked away in the depths of your corrupt system. Although it is more likely that they have been destroyed by now.

Before Fox could respond, Krystal asked, "They did something like that to Cerenia?"

Saber frowned and said, "Yes and it was our kinds darkest day. It's something that made Corneria previous crimes seem insignificant."

Saber then turned and looked at Fox—"It was during the dark depths of the first Venom war. The one your father fought in McCloud, if I remember your file correctly. A scout ship from your forces had a hyperdrive malfunction and ended up over .

Our society had just come back from a massive war that ended with the complete unification of our planet."

He then turned to Krystal and continued, "The Crimson Sky clan was wiped out during the final days of the conflict. However, since a few of our relatives were part of the royal house, I was given the title of Prince and was to marry your older sister. She was so beautiful. You look just like her except for the eyes—hers were the most radiant color of silver I've ever seen."

Saber then straightened up and stared at Fox with a glare of absolute hatred stating, "After your forces found us, you couldn't imagine our kinds excitement—the chance to use our unique gift of being able to channel our powers given to us by the spirits of our ancestors for the greater good of not just Cerenia but the entire galaxy. Unfortunately, your leaders did not feel that way. They saw our gift as a threat and if Andross ever found out about us would use it against them. So behind nearly everyone's back, they sent in Unit 731. I suppose you have heard of them."

Fox and Ken paled a bit. During that war the Unit 731 was infamous for mass biological and chemical use. So much so that when the war ended, all weapons of that kind were dismantled and outlawed.

Ken said, "You mean they wiped out the entire planet?"

Saber nodded and said, "The ship that found us, their captain—may have the spirits guard his soul—found out and attempted to fight off the entire group, one small ship against a dozen. Unfortunately, the ship was completely obliterated and then the bombs began to fall, delivering their plague over the land. A few shuttles that had been sent prior to the captains demise managed to make it into orbit but were blasted out of the sky, only my shuttle and one other managed to escape into hyperspace. We eventually made it to Venom with only 100 of us left. I swore right there and then I would punish Corneria for their sins and taking my beautiful Alisha away. It was quite complicated, but I managed to persuade Andross that I was a useful asset. Of course, my unique skills helped to seal the deal so to speak. I only had two requests though; the first was that I be given a small ship with all the amenities someone needs to survive as well as enough packaged rations to last for 3 to 5 years. That's where you come in Krystal. For your safety as well as for being sure you wouldn't have to go through any further trauma, I and the only two surviving royal guards sealed your memory. It was helpful that it rendered you unconscious. That's when I put you on the requested ship and programmed it to make a random hyper space jump. Of course, I also made sure to hide a homing beacon so when the time came I could find you, a well as erase the coordinates for our former home Corneria and Venom from the hyperdrives computer. I didn't want you to come to any harm."

"Over the years, I have done many things, even though I was only 15 at the time, I was a prodigy of my former clan. Using my talents, I was able to rise to leader of Venom's Shadow Corp. Of course the war had just ended, and it would be about 9 years before the second war commenced. During that time, I kept very busy. As Fox may already be aware, Andross while insane was a genius of genetic engineering."

"That brought me to my second request of him—we both began a joint project so to speak. With only a handful of our race surviving, inbreeding was a major issue which could have eventually leaded to our extinction. We both eventually managed to alter the survivors, making the structure of their DNA just different enough to ensure that the inbreeding wouldn't be an issue. Everyone survived of course, I insisted on taking every single precaution. While it bugged Andross to no end with my excessive attention to the safety of my people he decided to put up with it, saying that the psychological value of confronting the enemy with their sins and showing how Venom was willing to care enough to do everything in their power to help would deal a devastating blow to morale. Maybe it would even start a civic uprising."

"Just as the project was completed, the war started again, and once more I was called upon to lead the Shadow Corp. We had quite an impressive string of victories. I'm not one to boast, but do you remember in the middle of the war when your militaries intelligence network mysteriously got hacked and you were never able to trace it?

That was us! One of our finer moments, I must say. What happened soon after layer the ground work for where we are today"

"It was just before your assault on the Sector 6 defense line Andross called me to his personal lab. He told me that while he had confidence that he would be able to take care of you McCloud, he also told me it doesn't hurt to have a backup plan. He told me that if his battle with you should fail, I was to lead the Imperium of Venom. Of course, his nephew Andrew, that little cowardly punk managed to get around me and take the throne."

"The military forces knew that I was supposed to be in power, but I didn't want to risk a civil war with the few assets we had left. So I humored him. He thought he was in power while the military and I secretly rebuilt. The Aparoids crisis was the final catalyst. Andrew wanted to face you himself in a modernized version of his uncle's personalized Ride Armor. Of course, we were sure to make it easy for you to take it down—a few crossed wires, a faulty operating system and in the unlikely event that he would still get the upper hand on you, a self-destruct devise disguised as a secondary life support system."

"I thank you McCloud, for you have made me the current Emperor of Venom."

Fox and his group were now staring at Saber in complete disbelief.

Ken said, "If you're the damm Emperor, why the hell are you here?"

Before anyone could react, Saber dashed forward and gave Ken a swift uppercut. In the low gravity Ken hit the ceiling and was rendered unconscious instantly.

Saber replied, "McCloud you really should keep your minions in check. As for his question, a true leader just doesn't hide behind his title. A victory is hallow if it is not earned in blood."

What happened next was all like it was in slow motion. Saber dashed again knocking Fox against the wall while chanting and jabbed him once quickly in the gut. Fox was slumped on the floor and he yelled, "What the hell!"

Saber said, "I disabled your limbs—it should last for about an hour or so. One last bit of business though."

Saber slowly began walking towards Krystal chanting quietly as he went. Krystal was shaking saying, "Stay Back!"

Saber then yelled "RELEASE!!"

He then grabbed Krystal by the head. This was followed by an immediate flash of brilliant light. When Fox would again focus, Krystal was unconscious on the floor.

Fox yelled, "What the hell did you just do to her?"

Saber said, "I just released the seal on her memories. That is all. Once she remembers everything she'll probably leave you—possibly even kill you as you work for those who destroyed our home."

Just then the small Venom Fire Team exited the Core.

An Iguana yelled, "Sir, we got the data. Another fire team reports they managed to break into a secure hanger and steal several Ride Armors. It was difficult but we managed to get them back to the fleet. We only lost two of them…. (He glanced in the room and shouted)—the hell it's McCloud, waste him!"

Before the soldiers could fire, Saber raised his hands and said, "There is no need. He's completely disabled and can't fight back. Besides, don't you want to see the look on his face when we make Corneria suffer as much as we have?"

Fox then noticed that Sabers entire combat team lowered their weapons. A few of them were staring psychotically at him and one even started chuckling.

The Iguana said, "You're right, death is too good for someone like him."

Saber then bowed and said, "Now if you will excuse me McCloud, there is so much I have to do in such a short amount of time—but know this, if when the time comes and we meet in battle, I will kill you. And if for some reason my cousin is still with you I will not hesitate to do what needs to be done."

Saber then took his sword and using the grip knocked Fox unconscious.

Author's note: This entry took a while, but I think it was worth it. In case you are wondering, before Adventures became a Star Fox game, it was suppose to be another Fox called Saber who played the lead role, so I thought I would stick in a little known Easter Egg—just for the readers. There is one other if you can figure it out. I'll mention who gets it at the beginning of the next chapter.

Please read, review, and recommend.

Rave Drifter


	13. Chapter 13

"I think he might be coming to."

"Then get back you moron."

Fox opened his eyes seeing a Zeon medic and a soldier next to his bed.

The medic said, "You've been out for at least several hours. You must have taken a very nasty hit on the head."

Fox then pushed the medic aside and got out of the bed. The medic yelling "Hey—lay back down. We don't even know yet if you suffered a concussion. We're still waiting for one of your medics to come by."

Fox growled and said, "Shut the hell up. Where are Bluestone and Michaels?"

The medic who was now freaking out said, "The commander's private office, level 125. You are now on level 120 medical."

Before the soldier or the medic could restrain him, Fox burst out the door surprising a waiting Falco and Katt.

Falco said, "About time you woke up. Heard the Apes knocked you for a loop."

Fox grabbed Falco and ripped his blaster pistol out of his jacket.

Fox muttered, "Borrowing this."

Falco yelled, "What the hell, that's a custom—"

Katt smacked Falco in the back of the head and said, "You birdbrain something seems to be wrong."

Falco rubbed and back of his head and growled "Yeah, Yeah I hear you—better go and make sure oh fearless leader doesn't do something stupid."

Kat and Falco proceeded to follow Fox up the elevator and down the corridor to Bluestone's office. The two Zeon guards in front of the door leveled their Smg's at him and one said, "Private meeting."

Before the two could even blink, Fox grabbed them by the heads and smacked them together knocking both unconscious. Fox then opened the door to see Bluestone, Bill, and Michaels going over some papers.

Bluestone who was behind his desk looked up and said, "Fox, well this is a surprise. We are currently going over damage assessment and the final touches on the treaty."

Michaels looked at Fox and said, "McCloud how the hell did you get your ass in here? This is a private meeting."

Fox said, "Made the guards take a nap."

He then grabbed Michaels out of his chair by his collar, slammed him against the wall and stuck Falco's blaster pistol in his very private place. Both Bluestone and Bill jumped up drawing their weapons.

Bill yelled, "Fox—what the hell!"

Fox said, "None of your business Bill."

He then looked at Michaels and said, "Alright, tell me—the first Venom War—Unit 751's unauthorized attack on Cerenia--You have 60 seconds."

Falco and Katt then came through the door and Falco on seeing Fox exclaimed, "What the hell! Are you trying to get us killed?"

Michaels then growled, "McCloud put my ass down and I'll consider life in prison instead of the death penalty."

Fox pressed the gun tighter to Michaels and yelled, "I heard a very interesting story prior to being knocked out. You know my fiancée Krystal?"

Michaels who was now beginning to sweat bullets said, "I don't see how anyone could love a Merc like you, but yeah, why?"

Fox growled and said, "I met a relative of hers who is part of the boarding team—went and said that a bunch of paranoid assholes decided to send in the 751st biological unit to wipe out the planet behing everyone's back. I know for a fact that your father was still in the military at that time, as well as only a handful of supporters of large scale bio-warfare if my memory serves correctly. Since you're his son, as well as his aide during the war, I want answers—right now."

Michaels said, "So what if we did? Why the hell would you care? You're just like your father and that idiot Pepper. There is no such damm thing as rules in warfare. The only rule is to have enough friggin firepower to prevent the next war. Besides, if we didn't take care of those freaks who knows how Andross would use them against us."

At this Fox punched Michael's right in the snout and threw him into the opposite wall.

Fox yelled, "Wrong answer! What the hell gives you the right? How did you get everyone to go along with your insane plans?"

Michaels replied, "My father's works you mean. It's simple—while Pepper may have been the leader then, in times of war, if you recall, power is shared by the council. With enough votes, we could override him. Of course, the sentimental fool threatened to permanently disband war councils—but we couldn't have that, there was a lot of hatred for the enemy, all we had to do was threaten the good general by telling public that he was favoring prisoners, rather than the brutal treatment the public wanted—that and a few little bits of interesting information and he quickly changed his tune."

At this Michaels found himself pinned up against the wall again, this time not only by Fox but by Falco, Katt, and Bill as well.

Michaels yelled, "Commander Grey—what the hell is this? Unhand me and kill these traitors right now or you'll die with them."

Bill then pistol whipped Michaels knocking him and his teeth clean out.

Bluestone frowned and said, "I'll get some guards to escort him to the brig. "

Falco then started on a rant, "Dammit I thought he was a bastard before, but he and his damm family are a bunch of war crazed lunatics."

Katt replied, "I have to agree with featherbrain. Idiots like him are the reason I became a mercenary."

Before anything else was said a Zeon soldier rushed into the room and yelled, "Sir, we just received word from one of the critters ships—there is a transmission on all frequencies, civilian and military. They are relaying it to us now."

A wall monitor in the office went on-line. The emblem of the Imperium of Venom rotated against a crimson background. The screen faded revealing Saber sitting not a thrown as expected by behind a desk.

Fox said, "How did he get back to Venom so fast?"

Katt said, "I hate to break this to you but you have been out for roughly three days."

Fox mumbled, "Damm must have been hit harder than I thought—no wonder the medics thought I had a concussion."

Saber then looked up on the other side of the communications feed and began speaking:

"Corneria I am a monument to all your sins. I am Saber of the Clan of the Crimson Sky. Current Emperor of the Imperium of Venom. This is not a declaration of War but of Extermination.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Next: Ultimatum

Please read, review, and recommend

Rave Drifter.


	14. Chapter 14

"I come to speak of justice, of truth, and of tragedy."

Everyone was looking at the view screen. Fox was letting out a low growl.

Saber continued on, "For nearly two millennia we've been under the heel of the corrupt Commonwealth-- Abandoned on our hostel world. The reptilians forced from their original home because of the Commonwealth's destructive ways, and the Simians forced into exile for losing a war where they fought for their beliefs. The greatest tragedy and crime of them all is my home planet of Cerenia. Because of our unique skills which I'm not at liberty to disclose, we were designated a threat. They killed off nearly our entire race. The 751st biological division sparring nobody, slaughtered millions of innocents on the orders of your paranoid government. The Commonwealth states that they stand for justice—but what kind of justice is it to force the people you have won the war against into exile? What kind of justice is it to accidentally decimate the Reptilian home world of Titania and take no responsibility? Truly, there is no justice in committing genocide against an entire race—just on the vague notion that we could be a threat to their power?"

"I Saber of the Crimson Sky and Emperor of Venom put forth this decree: 1. I demand that Cornelia pay restitution to the people of Venom in the amount of 2.25 trillion, which shall be evenly distributed among our population. 2. I demand that all soldiers from the first Venom-Corneria war that served in the 751st biological division as well as any immediate family members of said soldiers to be turned over to our government for trial for crimes genocide against the planet of Cerenia. Finally Venom is to be declared an independent state with full control of our world as well as Macbeth, Zoness and the Sector Z Nebula. I have sent copies that Imperial intelligence has secured on the 751st operation to all Commonwealth medial corporations. I ask that they be made public and all should know that many brave soldiers died to bring forth the truth."

"If these demands are not met within one week—Universal Standard Time—then it would seem that the Commonwealth is too corrupt to continue to exist. We shall launch a large scale multi-system attack upon all Commonwealth civilian targets. I ask the people of the Commonwealth to stand up and force their leaders into acceptance of their sins otherwise all shall perish."

"As I've said, this will not just be a war of vengeance, but of complete extermination of the Commonwealth. I Saber of the Crimson Sky and Emperor of Venom hope you choose wisely."

The transmission then cut away and Falco yelled, "What the hell is wrong with this guy?"

Bill frowned and said, "I can understand turning over the soldiers of the 751st but their families as well? It's probably going to be a show trial with all ending up slaughtered."

Even Katt added, "Two and a quarter trillion is retributions? That would bankrupt the Commonwealth completely—to the point that it could never recover."

Bill stated firmly, "I believe that is Saber's general idea. If he really did manage to find any sort of documentation on unit 751 and its actions and made them public, we could be dealing with mass riots, possibly even a civil uprising or all out cessation war."

Bluestone who was listening in said, "He reminds me of Giren Zabi he wanted to prove Zeon's superiority so bad that he ordered the Earth Descent Operation. I tried telling the dumb idiot that we couldn't possibly hope to win the one year war by dropping into the territory and taking over the entire planet. Our resources compared to them were less than 1/30th of theirs. We should have blockaded the damn planet with everything we had and using large chunks of debris from the colonies as well as the asteroid belt as make shift missiles dropping them through the atmosphere on cities as well as military facilities until damage was so severe that they would be forced to submit. But Giren wouldn't hear of it saying that while a good idea it would make us as dishonorable as the

Federation. Plus since I was originally from Earth no one would listen to me, and questioned how I could even get into the Zeon military let alone impress his sister enough to become commander of the Lunar defense corps was completely beyond him.

"What have you become?"

Everyone turned to see Krystal standing in the doorway. Rings under he eyes showed that she hadn't slept in quite a while.

Krystal then touched the monitor on the wall. "He used to be so kind, so gentle, now I just don't know."

Fox frowned and said, "You remember everything?"

Krystal nodded and said, "I woke up yesterday, I've been in shock—all the memories so fast it was—it felt like I was downing. I heard everything you said, I was outside the door. I'm afraid he's no longer the caring cousin I once knew. Fox we have to stop him!"

Katt said, "Memories? What the…"

Fox cut in, "He blocked all her memories with some sort of trick."

Krystal nodded and said, "I remember every horrific detail, and yet I just know that he's condemning an entire society, just because of the sins of a few. I now know the answers to all the questions I've searched for over the years. While it is horrible, if things continue on this road the tragedy could repeat itself over and over until nothing is left."

Everyone just stood there and then Falco whistled and said, "Wow, that's a bit deep for me, but I think I get it."

Fox said, "Krystal are you sure you want to fight him?"

She nodded, "Had he not sealed me off, I might have joined him in his vengeance. However, if so I would have never seen how beautiful everything could be, and I would have never met you."

Falco budded in saying, "OK I hate to interrupt you two love birds but we have a deranged lunatic about to go bat shit crazy on the Commonwealth."

Katt smacked Falco on the head and he shouted, "What the hell was that for?"

Katt said, "For ruining the moment you idiot—still we should probably get back to

Corneria as fast as possible."

Bill nodded and said, "Agreed. I'll order the Trinity to begin spooling up the engines and prepare for an emergency jump."

Bluestone said, "I know it isn't much but I would like to send one of our Special Forces teams to assist. We shall monitor the situation closely. If things go bad I'll order everyone back into statis and we'll commence another search for a new home. I think I can spare two squads of mobile suits, but that's about it."

Katt said, "How are they going to get to Corneria without a hyperdrive?"

Bill said, "It is possible to expand the bubble that the ship is in hyperdrive—if they could somehow secure themselves to the exterior the ship, the Trinity could probably tow them along."

Fox stood and said, "Alright. Bill you and Bluestone get to work on that. Katt head back to the Great Fox—find Ken and get to work on prepping the engines for immediate departure."

Bluestone cut in and said, "I would like to help you personally McCloud so I will grant you the use of my personal Zaku 3. You're going to have to find a way to rig it with your shields, but I'm sure you will appreciate the extra firepower."

Fox nodded and said, "Sure I have a feeling we are going to need all the help we can get."

Krystal then spoke up, "Do you have anything modified that I could use?"

Bluestone scratched his head and said, "Maybe, it's a long shot but still."

Fox said, "Where's this going?" Fox was especially disturbed that Bluestone was calling something pertaining to the welfare of his fiancé a long shot.

Bluestone replied, "Remember when I told you about the Neo Zeon war? Well during the last days of the civil war that doomed it, we somehow managed to develop new type style weapons that could be used by anyone. The only problem was that for an old type human to pilot it he had to be one of extreme skill of mind. Basically he needed to be able to tap into more instinctive behaviors. While we only had a few dozen pilots who met such requirements, we did develop one mass production unit for them, the AMX-014

Dovan Wolf. If your finance McCloud's abilities are what you say they are, she might be able to utilize said unit to its full potential."

Before Fox could protest Krystal said, "You have one of these Dovan Wolfs?"

Bluestone said, "Just two, they survived the conflict but are a little banged up. If we cannibalize one of them we can get the other in perfect working order."

Fox said, "Do it."

Author's note: For those of you who are wondering where the hell I've been—let's just say that everyone in my family has been sick for the last two months. That and my muse needed a recharge.

Please read, review, and recommend.

Next: Escalation.

Rave Drifter


	15. Chapter 15

It was a scene of pure controlled chaos above Cornelia as ships of all kinds huddled around the massive shipyard warp gate complex

It was a scene of pure controlled chaos above Cornelia as ships of all kinds huddled around the massive shipyard warp gate complex. As soon as they got there, Bill, his crew and the Zeon volunteers were quickly whisked away to a high security debriefing. The Grey Fox along with the Zaku 3 and Dovan Wolf mobile suits that were lashed to the hull were confiscated and Fox and his crew were confined to a conference room deep within the facility.

It had been nearly six hours when the door finally opened revealing a ferret in very casual dress.

Falco exploded, "What the hell! What's the big idea? We've been here for Gaia knows how long without food, water, or any kind of explanation."

Falco was going to throttle the ferret but was restrained by Katt and Ken who were holding on to him as tight as possible.

Fox yelled, "Falco shut the hell up!" He then looked at the ferret and said, "Well--"

The ferret sat down and said; "I'm so sorry; things are going to hell out there. Jack Ryan current head of the Cornelia Commonwealth."

Fox said, "What? Where's Michaels?"

Jack replied, "Soon after we finished debriefing Commander Grey, we had him arrested and transferred to a super max military prison in the Cornelia arctic. It was an attempt to at least somewhat pacify the public. Unfortunately, the documentation of the 751st biological unit has caused chaos on a scale that we've never seen before. Between the media running the story nonstop and the fact that it is repeated continuously over the infonet, we're assuming that half of our civilian population has fallen into some degree of anarchy."

Krystal asked, "How bad is it?"

Jack replied, "Next to apocalyptic. Even with all the reserve military and civic defense resources deployed we are on the edge of the breaking point. Several units are even refusing to deploy and we've been getting sporadic reports of ships defecting to the Imperium of Venom."

Fox said, "This is crazy, any idea of how many?"

Jack said, "At first it was just a few small frigates and a couple of fighter squadrons. I would have briefed you all sooner, but two hours ago the crisis became emergent. Simultaneously, the third, the twenty-ninth, and the thirty-first battle fleets all announced they were defecting and made a hyperspace jump for Venom."

This got every ones attention. A Commonwealth battle fleet was made up of 40 to 60 ships, not to mention the numerous fighters, bombers, and support units they carried. The fact that not just one but three of these defecting all at once was enough to give anyone in the military a heart attack.

Falco said, "You've got to be kidding me--that enough fire power to lay siege to a small planet."

Jack nodded, and said, "I know--we're barely keeping the civic population from an all out uprising. McCloud, I have a request of you--while most of our intelligence on Venom has been wiped out due to these events, either though Imperium purges or defection, we did manage to acquire this--Saber of the Crimson Skies Declaration of Genocide against our civilian population was a decoy. The Imperium plans on using the chaos to launch every last bit of their military in an all out assault on Cornelia .

Details on their other plans are completely unknown. Our agent was supposed to contact us again 1 hour ago and we have not been able to reach him so we are fearing the worse case scenario."

Ken said to Jack, "What kind of scenario?"

Jack replied, "I thought it over and the most likely thing is that Venom will attempt a scorched earth biological attack to wipe out the planets entire population. It would be similar to the 751st attack on

Cerenia and if what little we know about Saber is correct, it might be seen as an act of poetic justice to him. We are pooling as many fleets, battle groups, and regiments back to Cornelia as fast as we can. Even with the combined battle strength of those still with us I'm afraid it might not be enough. McCloud I am authorizing for you the largest payout in Commonwealth History for your service in the defense of the home world."

Katt who was quiet up till then said, "What kind of money are you talking about?"

"Three Hundred and Fifty Million Credits--mostly in gold and fine stones--directly from one of the many hidden financial reserve bases" answered Jack.

Everyone in the room was stunned by this pronouncement. To Fox that was nearly 30 times what Pepper paid his crew during the second Commonwealth Imperium war.

Katt was thinking that everything must be far more screwed up if they were willing to pay that kind of money.

Falco said, "Hell for Three Hundred and Fifty Million I'll do just about anything. Even skin the surface of the sun like we did back during the war."

Fox said, "Where do you need us exactly?"

Ryan said, "I want your team to help fortify the planetary defense field I. We're already setting up defensive field rings around the planet and we are coming up short on fighter groups. In addition the Humans as you call them will be joining you. I've ordered the engineering team to upgrade their Ride Amours with shield generators, impulse reactors, and sensors that have literally ripped out of ultra long range recon drones. You are free to go and you should head back to your ship immediately. Oh and McCloud, we've also managed to hire several other mercenary groups to fill this void, so please don't go shooting anyone you might have a grudge against."

Meanwhile, at the very fringes of Commonwealth Space sat a red and black Venom Light cruiser with acid blue letters "Wolfs Den on it.

Inside one voice said to another "The Hell, Leon are you sure this is accurate"

The other voice that is now known as Leon replied, "Yep a hundred million and a full pardon for all of us.

Doesn't surprise me, Damm commonwealth is screwed up seven different ways to the Sector Y Nebula.

Dumb shits must be desperate!"

The unidentified voice said, "The others?"

Leon snorted and said, "Panther said he's going. Doesn't want to see his favorite restaurant and nightclub turned into a creator again. Damm cat just likes to womanize. As for the disgruntled Venom ex-pilot the Lemur said he's only going along with this because he said the money is good."

The voice chuckled and said, 'Yeah, that's Jonathon alright. Leon prepare this ship for hyperspace jump. I'm interested to see how the pup would handle this."

Leon simply nodded and left the cabin. The light intensified in the room revealing a wolf in a pilot's uniform that had clearly seen better days. The wolf popped opens a bottle of something that could probably strip paint and said, "Well O'Donnell this is going to be one messed up paradox."

Wolf then took a deep draft of the beverage just as the ship made its hyperspace jump.

Please read, review, and recommend.

Next: Mobilization of Venom.

Rave Drifter


	16. Chapter 16

Deep below the surface of the Venom, several figures were descending a lift rusting with age

Deep below the surface of the Venom, several figures were descending a lift rusting with age. One of the figures Saber said, "Commander, I'm pleased that you managed to keep our special arsenal safe all this time."

The Chameleon nodded and said, "Thank you my Emperor. It was difficult especially with the Commonwealth security sweeps, however you will be pleased to know that I've kept everything hidden and in perfect working order."

The lift stopped and the doors opened revealing a balcony overlooking what looked like an absolute chemical plant as well as hundreds of barrels and tanks marked with biohazard and hazmat symbols.

The Chameleon declared, "Welcome to the Strigun chemical weapons plant. It was built during the first war. We are currently five hundred feet below the surface. Designed so if those bastards bomb this place it can continue working nonstop. We have equipment, manufacturing facilities, even labs. Currently, we are staffed with me and 50 different scientists and maintenance personnel."

Saber said, "I see, what about personnel used for assembly?"

The Chameleon said, "It's not an issue. While this place was being built it was decided that for security reasons all assembly would be automated. The entire line can be run by a staff of two at a secure terminal in the deepest part of this facility. Besides gives the lab coats more time for research. I can get the line up and running in about an hour."

Saber replied, "Good. What exactly do you have already made?"

The Chameleon said, "Quite a few interesting mixes, such as hellfire—same thing the Commonwealth used on your planet I heard."

Saber frowned and said, "Yes, truly a horrible chemical—one whiff and you are eaten from the inside out. The fact that the victims feel that they are burning alive is how it got its name."

The Chameleon nodded and said, "Well we have a quarter of a million gallons of hell-fire as well as VX, the metro plague, and corrosion."

Saber nodded and said, "VX is a highly corrosive gas that can eat through metal, and the metro plague a nasty disease that almost completely wiped out the first colonists 2 thousand years ago. The fact that the first cases were discovered in the mining colonies in the metro asteroid belt is how it got its name. I've never heard of corrosion—what might that be?"

A voice said, "One of our best creations".

A spider monkey wearing a super thick lab coat and protective eye gear walked up and said, "Professor Jake Arkough at your service."

Saber said, "Well professor--"

Jake said, "Ah yes, compound CR-3395—although most call it corrosion. A little something we came up with late in the last war but never got a chance to use. One of our research groups discovered strange bacteria just before that war. Apparently, it thrives on moisture sucking up whatever liquid available, regardless of what it is. It only seems to be vulnerable to Gamma radiation. Makes the cure worse than the disease. Thankfully, it's extremely rare. We've been able to modify it at its most basic level. Once released in sufficient quantities, it could turn an entire planet into a lifeless desert—as well as any poor unfortunate souls on that rock. Sucks up all the moisture in their bodies and turns them into dust."

Saber replied, "I see. Any safety precautions?"

The professor adjusted his goggles and said, "We did make it so if you spray pure hydrogen on it the bacteria would think its consuming moisture when it isn't. This will cause its self destruction. But the quantities needed to contain an extremely large outbreak would be nearly impossible to obtain. We have a million gallons in a semi-liquefied state and about fifteen warheads loaded with it. Each warhead tactically could wipe out an area of 2,000 miles. Take the size of Corneria into consideration as well as geological features—it would only take 8 warheads to render Corneria uninhabitable."

Saber nodded and said, "I want all 15 warheads transferred to the main fleet. Also, all surplus warhead casings are to be loaded with hellfire—understand?"

The professor as well as the Chameleon in charge of the facility saluted and the Chameleon replied, "It shall be done my liege. What about the defectors and the ride armor data we took from the asteroid?"

Saber said, "You don't have to worry about a thing commander. I've ordered the defectors to the rear of the formation to provide long range fire support for the main fleet.

The fact that we are not using them as shields should cause others to second guess our motives. As for the data, our other research facilities have seen much potential—especially since the data has shown us the way to eliminate the flaws that doomed our earlier ride armor models. Already I've improved full scale research. We are hoping to have models that can replace tanks as well as space born fighter bombers within 5 years—3 depending on certain conditions."

The Chameleon said, "I see and what about the strange one that was taken?"

Saber replied, "Ah yes, according to data it seems in addition to standard weapons it carries a bunch of small radio mind control weapons called bits. The data said these weapons were created for new types—apparently beings with extremely high extrasensory perception. I've ordered its old generator and sensors to be replaced with modern equivalents as well as a shield generator. I plan on personally going into battle with it."

The other being that was with Saber was quiet up until now said, "Sir I request permission to go in your place".

Saber looked at the being, a fox with dark green fur with black tips in ceremonial armor.

" Kurama this is not your fight. Why does thou wish to go?"

Kurama Replied, "Sir as the last remaining royal guard of Cerenia , I feel it is my responsibility, if what you said is true and the princess has regained her memory but is still with them, it is my duty as one of those who sealed it for her to die by my blade. Also sire, just recently I found out that I was infected during our escapes so many years ago. It's hellfire. Apparently an extremely rare case where it works at a near snails place. It's in its final stages. I have just about a week. I'd rather go down in battle than waste away in a bed."

Saber thought for a moment and said, " Kurama you've been a good friend I shall honor your request."

The professor nodded and said, "It is logical. If for some reason this doesn't succeed, we will need you my liege to continue to lead the Imperiam."

Saber nodded and said, "Agreed. Kurama I wish you luck and may the spirits be with you."

Kurama Simply bowed and said, "I swear on my ancestors and the clan of the Emerald Sea that we shall succeed."

Note: Hope I made this up to you all—things have been hectic—floods, being sick, random crap breaking for no apparent reason—especially the AC. I'll try to get another chapter up before the end the October.

Please read, review and recommend.

Next: Final Defense

Rave Drifter


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

If you are wondering where I was, please check by bio.

"Attention all forces—Attention! Massive energy wave spikes! Imperiam Fleet Inbound! Estimated time till hyperspace drop out three minutes! Scramble—repeat all units scramble!"

A skunk floated up to the hatch of Bluestones Zaku 3. Inside Fox was doing a final systems check.

The skunk said, "O.K. quick run down. Old reactor replaced with one powered by molecular compacted hydrogen. Output is about 7,000 mw. Thrusters and active scanners have also been replaced. We've managed to add 2 g-force deinflusers as well as a shield generator. Careful with it though, it's a little screwy."

Fox asked, "Weapons?"

The skunk said, "Lets see—Waist mounted beam gun and shoulder mounted machine cannons have been removed, all weapons have been modified to accept molecular compacted hydrogen. Beam rifle output is 7.5 mw. Mouth mounted auxiliary beam gun output is at 3.5 mw. Beam tomahawk sword was a real pain the ass to update, but output is at 5.0 mw. Final thruster performance is 4.25 g. Any other questions?"

Fox replied, "Krystal and the Dovan Wolf?"

The skunk said, "That thing almost drove us crazy. If we didn't have the technical information, some of our scientists might have pulled their fur out. Let's see new reactor output is at 9,500—nearly all of the body armor beam weapons have been removed, except for the two mounted in the palms of each hand with output of 3.5. They can still be detached and guided by wire. Icom system also overhauled—wire guided weapon output at 1.75. Beam rifle and beam sword have the same output as counterparts on your suit."

Fox said, "And what about the Psycom system?"

The skunk answered, "It was just crazy trying to figure out how to adapt the technology. However, Dr. Toad managed to figure it out. An auxiliary driven computer drive containing a copy of the pilot's brain waves allows the wire guided weapons to perform flawlessly. Humans were impressed. Some wanted to help us to fully develop a similar system for mass production."

Fox said, "Which Dr. Toad are you talking about—I know a couple of them?"

The skunk answered, "According to this it was one of your former teammates."

Suddenly a high pitched voice yelled, "Out of the way!"

The skunk got pushed aside.

Fox said, "Slippy—you worked on this?"

Slippy nodded and said, "Yes, these mobile suits are amazing, I've already come up with over 100 different ideas for models of our own, as well as---"

The skunk cut Slippy off and said, "He wanted to know about the Psycom system."

Slippy stopped for a second and said, "Sorry about that—force of habit. The thing was almost too difficult even for me. System works find but the only drawback is it can only be calibrated for one pilot. If someone else wants to use the Icom weapons you would have to wipe the hard drive and then add a recorded data of the new pilot's brain waves. That could take hours. Days at worst. I'm trying to add enough memory to store at least four different brain wave patterns at once, but the memory requirements for one pattern as well as refined synchronization systems to handle such is—"

The skunk then slapped Slippy on the back of the head and Slippy exclaimed, "What's the big idea?"

The skunk said, "You were rambling again doctor."

Slippy said, "Oh sorry about that. Also don't call me doctor; it makes me feel so old."

Slippy then turned to Fox and said, "I'll me monitoring both you and Krystal from here."

Fox nodded and said, "Thanks Slip—after this we should catch up."

Slippy floated off saying, "If there is a later, they are throwing everything but the galley sink at us. If it wasn't for this stations insane amount of armor and shielding I'd be long gone."

Fox shut the cockpit. The monitors all over the bubble lit up as the linear seats slid into position. The two smaller monitors built into the seat began to display weapons and ms information.—Shields: Green. Thrusters: Green. Reactor: Nominal. Rifle: Full Charge. Auxiliary Mouth Gun: Full Charge. Beam Tomahawk Sword: Full Charge.

Joint Zeon Commonwealth Tactical Mobile Combat System V-Beta 0.25-TMCS.

Fox thought to himself—when they said they were going to overhaul these things, they weren't kidding. They must have been working in shifts nonstop for the last few days.

A voice on the communicator said, "O.K. we are opening the blast doors—McCloud prepare for take-off."

"Fox here—Zaku 3: Go!"

The thruster's egnighted and the Mecha flew out of the bay at breakneck speed. Fox was now flipping switches—the tech was right, the shield generator was a little iffy.

"Hopefully the dam thing won't burn out in a dog fight." Muttered Fox.

Suddenly, the Dovan Wolf flew up along side.

"Fox are you o.k." asked Krystal over the com."

Fox said, "Yes, You?"

Krystal said, "Same here—can control the remote weapons alright but it gives me a slight headache."

Then four Arwings pulled into formation around them.

"Falco here. Don't start the party without us."

"This is Katt. Same as featherbrain—everything is green."

Falco started muttering something under his breath and before a fight could break out a voice yelled, "Can It!"

"Bill here, everything stable. Can't say the same for those two."

There was what sounded like laughing and then the voice said, "Sorry that was funny."

"Ken here locked and loaded."

Fox said, "What the hell are you doing in a fighter?"

Ken said, "Don't look at me it was Fana's idea. She wanted to stay back on the Great Fox with Rob and coordinate fire support. Don't worry; between all those practice runs you had me do in our spare time, I'm sure I can handle it. I'm wearing a full flight suit just in case I need to eject."

Fox muttered "I don't even want to know what Fara was thinking." He then said, "Falco, you and Ken are with me. Bill you and Katt guard Krystal."

Falco then said, "We have a spike on the scan. Oh hell no—they went and hired them?"

Suddenly four bulkier Arwing look-alikes appeared above.

Fox said, "Wolf, what the hell!"

Wolf said, "Hey pup—doubt you are going to walk away from this one."

Another voice said, "He'll be lucky to be alive. Probably have to eat all his meals through a tube."

Bill yelled, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"

Another voice said, "Let's see we're here to save this jackass of a planet, as well as all the derelicts morons on it. Oh and a hundred million and a full pardon didn't sound that bad either."

Katt said, "Well we are screwed if they are desperate enough to hire you guys."

The previous voice yelled, "Do you want a nova bomb up your tail pipe? Or are you on your period girl?"

Before a fight could break out Wolf yelled, "Enough already! Star Wolf team status report."

The voice that was arguing with Katt said, "Yeah, Yeah! Jonathan here, everything is green."

The voice that was mocking Fox said, "Leon, ready to make a bloody mess."

Finally a fourth voice added, "Panther, ready for the beautiful wonderland of battle. But not as beautiful as Fox's ladies!"

Krystal rolled her eyes and Katt asked, "Hey Wolf is this guy for real?"

Wolf just said, "He's a good pilot, you get used to his womanizing or have a psychiatric episode—whatever comes first."

Ken added, "Guy sounds like he belongs in a renaissance fair not in a fighter."

Panther said, "Well at least I have a code unlike some people."

Fox yelled, Panther—Ken, shut the hell up."

Wolf cracked up laughing and said, "Alright you heard the pup, same plan as him—me and Panther will go with Fox. Leon, you and Jonathan sick with Krystal—and no friendly fire, I'd like to get paid for once."

Suddenly a voice yelled over the com, "This is Fara on the Great Fox, energy wave spike is maxing out, enemy hyperspace drop out in 5. Zeon volunteer units are taking up defensive positions around the spacegate."

Sure enough there was a flash of light ahead of them that usually indicated a ship coming out of hyperspace. But the light was so massive and so bright it was like it literally split space apart. When it cleared there was what looked like a literal cloud of ships all in formation.

A voice said, "This is high com, we got 200 capitol class ships and 400 support class ships—estimating we are looking at 60 to 80 percent of the Imperium's combined battle strength. Authorization of D Class ultra heavy weapons has been confirmed. All ships are advised to load anti-fleet and planetary bombardment ordinates."

Fanna yelled, "We've got fighters—too many for scanners to count—headed this way. Our bullfrog fighter bombers and areowing fighters are beginning to engage. All ships are commencing long range bombardment."

Fox said, "Well—ready?"

Wolf replied, "Well today is as good a day as any to die."

And with that both Fox and Wolf yelled: Team Engage!

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Next: Into the Mouth of Hell

Rave Drifter


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